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The CFTC’s Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight (DCIO) published an Advisory clarifying the extent to which certain sophisticated customers located in the U.S. may transact in foreign security futures products (FSFPs). The Advisory is intended to address questions raised by members of the public following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s publication of an order [...]

The CFTC’s complaint alleges that since at least August 2008, Gonzalez, Naranjo and NGI fraudulently solicited and accepted approximately $3.65 million from at least 165 members of the Los Angeles-area Spanish speaking community for various investments, including commodity futures trading.

The Committee will have a two-year term, during which the Committee will conduct public meetings, receive written recommendations from its members and the public and submit reports to the Commission that will inform the Commission of its technological opportunities and the need for regulation to support the Commission’s mission.The original TAC ceased operation when its, chapter expired in 2005.

According to the CFTC complaint, filed on May 17, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Shalhoub solicited approximately $300,000 from at least 12 of his ex-wife’s friends and family to trade futures.

The CFTC and SEC released preliminary findings related to the unusual market events on May 6, 2010. The agencies found no evidence that these events were triggered by “fat finger” errors, computer hacking, or terrorist activity, although it cannot completely rule out these possibilities.

Regulation 30.10 generally provides that persons located and doing business outside the U.S. and who are subject to a comparable regulatory framework in the country in which they are located may qualify for an exemption from the application of certain Commission regulations, including relief from registration as a futures commission merchant.

The joint committee will develop recommendations on emerging and ongoing issues relating to both agencies.

Thursday’s unusual trading activity included extreme volatility for a number of individual securities. This is inconsistent with the effective functioning of our capital markets and we will make whatever structural or other changes are needed.

The CFTC obtained more than $3.8 million in civil money penalties and equitable relief in court orders against Tyrone “Cauzae” McCall and entities he controlled, McCall Business Group, LLC and MBG Global, LLC, both of Charlotte, N.C. The sanctions resolve a CFTC enforcement action that charged them with solicitation fraud and misappropriation of investor funds in a commodity pool scheme.
The court’s [...]

The order finds that because Noble Americas intended to negate market risk and price competition, and thereby avoid a bona fide market transaction and produce a virtual financial nullity, the trades constituted wash sales, fictitious sales and non-competitive transactions.