Core Points - A married couple from Tennessee has been ordered to pay nearly $7 million for fraud involving a commodity pool [1][4] - The couple, Michael and Amanda Griffis, convinced 145 individuals to invest $6.5 million in a scheme called "Blessings Thru Crypto" [2] - The funds were falsely claimed to be used for trading commodity futures, but were instead misappropriated for personal expenses and sent to an illegitimate overseas exchange [3] Financial Details - The couple is required to pay $5,528,121 in restitution to defrauded victims and a civil monetary penalty of $1,355,232, totaling over $6.8 million in monetary relief [4] - More than $4 million of the pool's funds were transferred to an overseas exchange, which was not legitimate [3] Regulatory Actions - The couple has been banned from trading and registering with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and prohibited from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations [4] - The case serves as a warning about the risks of trusting unverified investment opportunities [5]