CFTC

Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission now has a Whistleblower Office, which is intended to provide an avenue for the public to help catch misconduct in the markets and improve the CFTC’s ability to be an effective regulator.

It’s been a busy year for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In fact, it’s been the busiest financial fraud enforcement year of all time. 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has simultaneously filed 10 enforcement actions in federal district courts in Illinois, New York, Utah, and Wyoming, alleging that 11 entities are illegally soliciting members of the public to engage in foreign currency (forex) transactions and are operating without being registered with the CFTC. These cases follow the CFTC’s January 26, 2011, filings against 14 other entities for similar alleged violations. 

The next Director of Enforcement of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is going to be David Meister, a former federal criminal prosecutor who has nearly 25 years of experience in investigations, litigation and trials involving fraud and other complex schemes relating to the U.S. financial markets. Vincent McGonagle, who has served as Acting Director of Enforcement since October 1, 2010, will continue in that capacity until Meister (pictured) comes on board.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed 57 enforcement actions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 – 14 percent more than in FY 2009 and 42 percent more than in FY 2008. The CFTC's Division of Enforcement’s filings involve allegations of manipulation, fraud, abuse and other violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. These 57 actions have resulted in more than $186 million in civil monetary penalties, restitution and disgorgement.

Now, we’re getting somewhere! The SEC and CFTC are forming a joint committee to address emerging regulatory issues. The joint committee will develop recommendations on emerging and ongoing issues relating to both agencies.

A federal court in Texas ordered Steven Leigh Shakespeare and his company, Guardian Futures, Inc. ("GFI"), an Austin-based introducing broker, to pay $260,000 in an anti-fraud action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). 

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has charged Patrick Rakotonanahary and Cyber Market Group LLC with operating a multi-million dollar foreign currency (“forex”) Ponzi scheme in Hawaii, and elsewhere in the United States.

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has a very impressive resume: a Goldman Sachs partner at age 30 and thereafter a Treasury Department big whig helping with de-regulation under Secretary Robert Rubin. Now, however, Gensler is a true believer in regulatory reform. 

Robert Moore, former executive managing director for the Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) Commodity Derivatives Group, has entered into a consent order with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission relating to allegations of mis-marking and mis-valuing BMO’s natural gas options book by the trader he supervised.