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CFTC v. unnamed respondents (matched orders, 2016)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. CFTC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

Machine-extracted, pending human review. The structured fields on this page were parsed automatically from the regulator's own release, linked below. Read the primary document before relying on any figure here, and tell us if something is wrong.

In 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought an action against the named respondents, alleging conduct this library classifies as matched orders and wash trading. The release records a civil penalty of $1.2 million.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency CFTC
Release number 7498-16
Date filed 2016-12-15
Court U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Status filed
Asset class futures
Venue CME
Criminal parallel No
Defendants
Techniques Matched orders , Wash trading

What was ordered

Civil penalty
$1.2m
Disgorgement
Prejudgment interest
Total relief
$1.2m
Alleged gain

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced this matter on December 15, 2016 as release 7498-16. The respondents named are the named respondents. The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

This library tags the matter as matched orders and wash trading, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against futures, with CME identified in the release.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $1.2 million. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

This matter is at the allegation stage. Nothing in the regulator's filing has been proven, and the respondents are entitled to the presumption that it has not been. This page will be updated if the matter is resolved, dismissed or withdrawn.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 2 techniques in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

Timeline

  1. 2016-12-15 CFTC release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. William Scott Lawler, Esq. (matched orders, 2021) SEC 2021-08-18 Matched Orders , Wash Trading judgment
SEC v. Ahmad Haris Tajyar and Eric Leo Marsoubian (marking the close, 2021) SEC 2021-08-13 Marking The Close , Matched Orders +1 $220k settled
CFTC v. Connecticut Firm (matched orders, 2021) CFTC 2021-05-18 Matched Orders , Wash Trading $500k judgment
CFTC v. Coinbase Inc. (exchange wash trading, 2021) CFTC 2021-03-19 Exchange Wash Trading , Matched Orders +1 $6.5m judgment
CFTC v. Trader and His Firm (matched orders, 2020) CFTC 2020-05-07 Matched Orders , Wash Trading $150k judgment
CFTC v. MF Global Inc. (boiler rooms, 2014) CFTC 2014-11-07 Boiler Rooms , Matched Orders +1 settled

Record added September 9, 2026. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.