January 28, 2019
Jiongsheng (“Jim”) Zhao, of Sydney, Australia, a commodities trader at an Australian proprietary trading firm (Trading Firm A), pleaded guilty to spoofing in connection with his fraudulent and deceptive trading activity in the E-mini S&P 500 futures contracts market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Zhao admitted that from approximately July 2012 through March 2016, he placed thousands of orders for E-mini S&P 500 futures contracts on the CME that he intended to cancel before execution to artificially move the price of E-mini S&P 500 futures contracts in a direction that was favorable to Zhao to the detriment of other market participants. Trading Firm A kept a percentage of Zhao’s trading profits, ranging at various times from 20 percent to 50 percent. DOJ
Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Market Manipulation and Trading Violations,