November 8, 2021

United States Commodity Funds LLC, a registered commodity pool operator , and United States Oil Fund LP, an exchange-traded product whose general partner is United States Commodity Funds LLC, will pay a total of $2.5 million to resolve charges by the SEC and CFTC.  USO’s stated investment objective was to track changes in the spot price of oil; however, during oil market turmoil in early 2020, USO’s sole futures commission merchant told USO it would not execute any new oil futures positions for USO. As a result of this limitation, USO was restricted from investing the proceeds generated by the future sale of newly created shares in oil future contracts, creating the risk that USO would not be able to meet its stated investment objective. The SEC and CFTC alleged that the defendants failed to fully disclose these limitations to commodity pool participants.  CFTC; SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Misrepresentations, Securities Fraud,