The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a Consent Order of Permanent Injunction against a trader and his proprietary trading company (collectively, the "Defendants") for allegedly participating in a "spoofing" scheme. The consent order stems from a CFTC complaint entered on October 19, 2015
According to the consent order, the Defendants "intentionally and repeatedly" participated in a spoofing scheme that involved a series of futures contracts on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and CFE exchanges. Allegedly, the Defendants placed orders for futures that they did not intend to fill. This strategy permitted them to purchase or sell futures contracts that would not have been available to them without the spoofing misconduct.
The consent order requires the Defendants to:
- pay a $2.5 million civil monetary penalty;
- use an independent monitor to assess their futures trading for further misconduct over the next three years;
- use certain compliance tools for their futures trading on U.S. exchanges during a period of 18 months; and
- permanently cease and desist from engaging in spoofing, and from employing manipulative or deceptive devices, while trading futures contracts.
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