February 22, 2012

CFTC Orders New York Firm D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P. to Pay $140,000 Penalty for Violating Soybean and Corn Futures Speculative Position Limits

Washington, DC—The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing and simultaneous settlement of charges against commodity pool operator D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P., of New York. N.Y., for exceeding speculative position limits in soybean and corn futures contracts in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The order requires D.E. Shaw to pay a $140,000 civil monetary penalty and cease and desist from further violations of section 4a(b) of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulation 150.2.

The CFTC order finds that on April 1, 2010, D.E. Shaw held a short position of 9,894 May 2010 soybean futures contracts – a position that exceeded by 3,394 contracts the single month speculative limit of 6,500 for soybean futures. On June 18, 2010, D.E. Shaw held a short position of 13,657 December 2010 corn futures contracts – a position that exceeded by 157 contracts the 13,500 contract single month speculative position limit for corn futures, according to the order.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Linda Y. Peng, David W. MacGregor, Lenel Hickson, Jr., Stephen J. Obie, and Vincent A. McGonagle.

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Last Updated: February 22, 2012