Cody Kerns, the manager behind CDK Fund I, LP and CDK Capital Partners I, LLC, is the subject of two active investor lawsuits: a federal securities fraud case now pending in the District of Delaware and a putative class action in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Both cases accuse Kerns of soliciting money under false pretenses and mishandling investor capital that was routed to FxWinning Ltd., a Hong Kong forex broker that suspended withdrawals in June 2023 and never reopened. Kerns has separately sued FxWinning as a plaintiff and won large judgments against it.
How Investor Money Reached FxWinning
CDK Fund I, LP was formed as a Delaware limited partnership on September 26, 2022, to pool investments in stocks, ETFs, and currencies. Kerns owned and controlled the general partner, CDK Capital Partners I, LLC, and the investment manager, Kerns Capital Management, LLC. Essential Fund Services International, LLC handled administration. Investors bought in through subscription agreements, and the fund’s assets were then managed under a “Customer Agreement” with FxWinning Ltd.
In late June 2023, FxWinning suspended all client withdrawals, citing a “compliance audit.” The firm’s websites went dark. Money that CDK investors had placed with the fund was now locked inside a broker that had effectively vanished.
The Debbs Federal Securities Fraud Case
On March 4, 2024, Kevin Debbs and Liberty National Trust — investors who had put a combined $1,100,000 into the fund — filed a federal securities fraud complaint against Kerns, CDK Fund I SPV LLC, CDK Capital Partners I LLC, and Essential Fund Services International in the Middle District of Florida.
According to the complaint, a fund promoter admitted after FxWinning’s shutdown that roughly 70 percent of the fund’s assets had been lost under FxWinning’s oversight. Instead of returning what remained, Kerns and his entities are alleged to have formed a Special Purpose Vehicle, CDK Fund I SPV LLC, and transferred $1,253,888.14 of investor capital into it. The plaintiffs say they were offered two options: forfeit their remaining value to the general partner, or continue the partnership to sustain trading. Neither let them withdraw. The complaint also alleges that partnership statements sent after FxWinning had closed contained “fictitious” management fees and performance allocations, making the reported gains fabricated.
The defendants moved to dismiss and to transfer the case to Delaware under a mandatory forum-selection clause in the Limited Partnership Agreement. On February 19, 2025, Judge John L. Badalamenti granted the transfer. The case was reassigned in Delaware to Judge Richard G. Andrews as Case No. 1:25-cv-00205. On February 27, 2026, Judge Andrews denied the plaintiffs’ motion for reargument or reconsideration. The case remains active.
The Piteira Class Action in Delaware Chancery
On August 21, 2025, George Piteira and Alex Swab filed Piteira et al. v. Cody Kerns et al. in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The suit is being prosecuted as a class action on behalf of limited partners of CDK Fund I, LP by attorney Scott M. Tucker of Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP.
The firm’s description of the case says Kerns solicited investments and operated the fund based on “false representations and secret self-dealing,” causing losses for limited partners and personal gains for the defendants. Court records show a subpoena being domesticated in the District of Columbia Superior Court, indicating the plaintiffs are pursuing documents or testimony from parties outside Delaware. The case is in its earlier stages.
Kerns’s Own Lawsuit Against FxWinning
In late July 2023, Kerns led a group of investors in suing FxWinning Ltd. and five of its principals in the Complex Business Litigation Division of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Represented by David M. Levine of Sanchez Fischer Levine, LLP, the investors sought more than $28 million and alleged conspiracy to commit fraud and deceptive trade practices.
On December 12, 2024, a Florida judge entered a directed verdict against FxWinning Ltd., awarding investors more than $114 million. FxWinning did not appear. Collecting from an absent, defunct foreign broker is a separate problem, and the judgment does not resolve the claims that CDK investors have brought against Kerns himself.
Regulators
No public enforcement actions by the SEC or state securities regulators against Kerns or his entities appear in the available record. The exposure Kerns faces is civil, brought by his own investors, in the two Delaware cases described above.