CFTC Staff Letters Archive

CFTC Staff Letters Archive provides Letters from 2007 and earlier. For Letters published 2008 or later visit the All Letters page.

There are no Advisory Letters or Other Written Communications for 2007 or earlier.

Date	PDF and Description
04/25/2002	02-55 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action A CPO requested an extension of time until October 31, 2002, to file the December 31, 2001, Annual Report for a pool invested in a fund that has filed for bankruptcy. The Division determined that the bankruptcy of an entity in which a pool is invested does not necessarily preclude the preparation of an annual report for the pool in accordance with General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Thus, a certified public accountant can issue an opinion on that annual report which will be subject to a scope limitation for the affected investment. Under these circumstances, such a scope limitation would not render the accountant's opinion inconsistent with Rule 4.22(d). In light of the substantial delay in distributing an annual report to the participants that would be necessary to ascertain the final effect of the investee fund's pending bankruptcy on the Pool's financial condition, the request for relief was denied.
04/24/2002	02-54 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action A CPO has requested an extension until May 30, 2002, to file the annual reports for Funds that it operates that have offshore administrators. The independent accountant for the Funds has informed the CPO that the audited financial statements will be delayed due to the accountant's inability to obtain from the offshore administrators information needed to complete the audits in a timely manner.
04/16/2002	02-48 ; Rule 4.22(c) and (d);; No-Action The operators of two Funds which ceased trading in 1995 and have liquidated substantially all of their assets, but continue to maintain a small portion of original assets in a custodial account in order to meet certain contingent liabilities, requested relief from the certification requirement of Rule 4.22 (d). The CPOs also represented that no transactions in commodity futures have been entered into since the 1995 liquidation and that no such transactions will be entered into in the future. Based upon these representations, the Division has granted the relief from the certification requirement of Rule 4.22(d) for the Funds' fiscal year ending December 31, 2001, on the condition that the 2001 annual reports must prominently state that the Funds are no longer being operated as commodity pools subject to the Commission's rules. Further, the Division acknowledges that these will be the last annual reports filed with the Commission for the Funds because the Funds have ceased operating as commodity pools within the meaning of Rule 4.10(d).
04/15/2002	02-53 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator that operates several 4.7 "fund-to-fund" pools requested an extension of time to file the annual report until September 15, 2002. The request was denied as the Division staff noted that the benefits of providing an audited financial report were outweighed by the need for pool participants to obtain financial information in a timely manner so that they may make informed investment decisions. Thus, delaying delivery of an annual report until September 15 - five and one half months after the normal deadline - outweighs the advantage of having the annual report certified, in light of the CPO qualifying to file unaudited annual report due to the 4.7 status of the 4.7 pools.
04/15/2002	02-52 ; Rule 4.22(f)(2);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator which does not intend to have its 2001 annual report certified does not qualify for the extension under Rule 4.22(f)(2). Thus, the requested relief was denied.
04/15/2002	02-51 ; Rule 4.22(f)(2);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator which does not intend to have its 2001 annual report certified does not qualify for the extension under Rule 4.22(f)(2). Thus, the requested relief was denied.
04/15/2002	02-50 ; Rule 4.22(f)(2);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator which does not intend to have its 2001 annual report certified does not qualify for the extension under Rule 4.22(f)(2). Thus, the requested relief was denied.
04/15/2002	02-49 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator whose Pools were organized and capitalized in December 2001 and had as few as one and no more than four investors in any one pool, with a small amount of capitalization and which had done no commodity futures trading in 2001, requested an exemption from filing audited financial reports for 2001. Instead it will issue to all participants and file with the CFTC and NFA certified annual reports covering the 13-month period ending December 31, 2002. The CPO will also distribute and submit unaudited financial statements for December 31, 2001, the entire operating history of the Pools.
04/15/2002	02-47 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action After discovering its error in interpretation, a CPO which had interpreted the "Dear CPO Letter" to provide automatic relief from filing an annual report for pools with only a few months of trading requested a 30 day extension to file its certified annual reports for 2002.
04/15/2002	02-46 ; Rule 4.22(f)(2);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator which does not intend to have its 2001 annual report certified does not qualify for the extension under Rule 4.22(f)(2). Thus, the requested relief was denied.