The Business Conduct Committees of the Commodity Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange (respectively, the "COMEX BCC Panel" and the "NYMEX BCC Panel") sanctioned a firm and several traders for spoofing and for violations of exchange block trading rules.
In separate disciplinary actions:
- the COMEX BCC Panel penalized (see here and here) (i) a trader by permanently banning him for spoofing orders in the copper futures market and (ii) a firm by fining it $90,000 for failing to accurately report block trades in multiple gold, silver and copper futures and options, and for failing to adequately supervise and advise staff regarding applicable COMEX rules;
- the NYMEX BCC Panel suspended and fined a trader $15,000 for (i) executing a separate block trade on the same side of the market as the block trade requested by a client and (ii) using "standardized" language with an outside party in order to avoid detection of pre-hedging customer orders in audit trail records; and
- COMEX and NYMEX ordered (see here and here) a trader to (i) pay a cumulative monetary fine of $90,000, (ii) disgorge total profits amounting to $19,018 and (iii) comply with a three-month suspension for spoofing orders in the gold and copper futures contract markets, and in the crude oil and natural gas futures contract markets, separately.
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