♦Serious About Enforcement♦
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement was crystal clear in its recently released Annual Report: Know the rules and play by them, or pay the price.
In fiscal year 2018 ended Sept. 30, CFTC disclosed the following eye-openers:
• The number of cases filed involving “Manipulative Conduct, False Report, or Spoofing” more than doubled from 2017. This is in line with the “Futures Markets Spoofing Takedown” announced early in the year as a joint CFTC/Department of Justice initiative.
• CFTC imposed monetary judgements of $10 million or more in 10 cases — a record.
• The five whistleblower awards handed out were more than the total number of awards in the previous seven years combined. Those tipsters received total compensation of more than $75 million.
• Fourteen actions filed in parallel with regulatory partners like the DOJ represented another high-water mark.
View the CFTC report here. The best protection against becoming a statistic on next year’s report is a well-educated staff. Our Market Conduct course clarifies the mechanics and consequences of engaging in spoofing, wash sales, market manipulation, pre-arranged trading, noncompetitive trading, front-running, insider trading and other infractions.
