Market Manipulation and Trading Violations

June 25, 2014

The SEC announced it has charged two additional brokers with trading on inside information ahead of the $1.2B acquisition of SPSS Inc. in 2009 by IBM Corporation.  The SEC alleged that former brokers Benjamin Durant III and Daryl M. Payton illegally traded on a tip about the acquisition from Thomas C. Conradt, a friend and fellow broker in the New York office of a Connecticut-based broker-dealer.  SEC

March 5, 2014

Long Island-based proprietary trading firm, Worldwide Capital, and its owner Jeffrey Lynn, agreed to pay $7.2M to settle charges they violated Rule 105 short-selling restrictions, the largest-ever monetary sanction for Rule 105 short selling violations.  SEC

December 7, 2015

The CFTC settled charges against Total Gas & Power North America, Inc. and Therese Tran, accusing them of manipulation of natural gas monthly index settlement prices at four major trading hubs in Texas and elsewhere in the southwest during monthly settlement periods known as “bid-week;" the defendants will pay a $3.6 million penalty. CFTC

October 19, 2015

The CFTC filed a lawsuit against Igor B. Oystacher and his proprietary trading company, 3 Red Trading LLC, both of Chicago, Illinois, charging the defendants with spoofing and employment of a manipulative and deceptive device while trading futures on four different futures exchanges.  CFTC

June 19, 2015

The Southern District of New York has ordered Joseph F. Welsh III of Northport, New York, to pay $500,000 to resolve CFTC charges that he attempted to manipulate settlement prices of NYMEX palladium and platinum futures contracts.  CFTC

May 5, 2015

The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Heet Khara and Nasim Salim, residents of the United Arab Emirates for engaging in unlawful disruptive trading practices known as “spoofing” in the gold and silver futures markets.  CFTC

April 23, 2015

German-based Deutsche Bank AG and its UK-based subsidiary DB Group Services (UK) Limited agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle US and UK allegations relating to their role in manipulating and false reporting of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and Euribor.  In addition to the monetary payout, DB Group Services agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and Deutsche Bank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve wire fraud and price-fixing charges. The settlement payment consists of an $800 million CFTC penalty, a $600 million penalty payable to the New York Department of Financial Services, $344 million payable to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) action, and criminal penalties and disgorgement payable in an agreement with DOJ, including a $150 million fine payable by DB Group Services and a $625 million penalty payable by Deutsche Bank.  DOJ; CFTC; NY