CFTC Promotes Whistleblower Chief Brian Young to Acting Head of Enforcement

Last week (January 22), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline Pham announced a slew of leadership changes at the commodities regulator.  Key among them was elevating current head of the CFTC Whistleblower Office Brian Young to Acting Director of the CFTC's Division of Enforcement. It is a big move for Young who has been with the agency for less than a year.  He joined last February after long-time...

Payments News Update – December 8, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Lower Credit Card Transaction Fees Coming to Small Business as Canadian Agreement Reached Daily Hive – December 5, 2023 Canada has reached an agreement with Visa and Mastercard to lower credit card transaction fees for small businesses. This comes after businesses were allowed to pass the cost of credit card fees onto the consumer in October 2022. Now, The Government of Canada says the new agreement will...

CFTC’s 2023 Annual Report on Whistleblower Program Highlights Program’s Success and Important Role of Whistleblowers

The CFTC’s 2023 Annual Report to Congress on its whistleblower program highlights the success of the program and strongly reinforces the important role whistleblowers play in rooting out commodity frauds. The CFTC’s Whistleblower Program “provides monetary incentives to individuals who report possible violations of the Commodity Exchange Act that lead to a successful enforcement action,” and provides “privacy, confidentiality, and anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers.”  The program awards whistleblowers with up...

May 12, 2023

HSBC Bank USA, N.A. has been ordered to pay $45 million to settle charges involving a number of violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.  Over an eight-year period beginning in 2012, HSBC traders systematically structured their trading to move the market prices of issuer swaps in a direction that was favorable to HSBC and unfavorable to its counterparties.  Over several months beginning in 2015, HSBC’s supervisor for its U.S. dollar...

Fiscal Year 2022 Sets New Records for CFTC Whistleblower Program

Fiscal year 2022 was sure to be a record-breaking year for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Reward Program, as it started with a $200 million whistleblower award – an award so large that Congressional intervention was needed.  The CFTC Whistleblower Program’s annual report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022 confirms this, reporting more than $203 million in total awards. Created by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC Whistleblower Program pays...

Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2021

While 2021 may have felt like more of the same as the pandemic dragged on, it marked some new trends in federal financial fraud recoveries. As we predicted last year, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 has heralded some large recoveries against banks. The Act also established an Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program, so that whistleblowers who report financial institutions engaging in money laundering – even if it took place before...

December 21, 2021

Financial services firm NatWest Markets Plc has pleaded guilty to charges related to its manipulation of the market for U.S. Treasury futures contracts and for the purchase and sale of U.S. Treasury securities in the secondary (cash) market.  NatWest will pay approximately $35 million in criminal fines, restitution, and forfeiture.  The government charged that NatWest traders engaged in spoofing by placing orders with the intent to cancel those orders before...

CFTC Whistleblower Program 2021 Annual Report Shows Continuing Strength of Program as it Manages Challenging Year

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued its required annual report to Congress covering the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program.  The report details the successes of the program over the 2021 fiscal year.  Created by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC Whistleblower Program pays awards to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide the Commission with original information, about matters within the CFTC’s jurisdiction, that lead to the recovery of more than $1 million in...

CFTC Whistleblower Program Faces Challenges of its Success: What Whistleblowers Should Know

In May, 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall) on “turmoil” in the CFTC Whistleblower Program. According to the article, the CFTC has under consideration a whistleblower award based on a claim by a whistleblower in the 2015 $2.5 billion Deutsche Bank LIBOR manipulation settlement.  Given the size of the Deutsche Bank settlement, the potential whistleblower award is substantial: the Journal reports that the CFTC is considering an award of...

CFTC: Looking for a Few Good Whistleblowers

When it comes to their respective whistleblower programs, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) does not get the same respect or attention the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does.  That is largely because the SEC Whistleblower Program has been an unparalleled success, with whistleblower awards being made (and highly promoted) virtually every week or two.  Last year was a record-breaking year for the program, which included a blockbuster $114 million...