Release: 5352-07

For Release: July 11, 2007

U.S. District Court Orders Telephone Clerk of a NYMEX Floor Brokerage Operation to Pay More Than $3.6 Million for Defrauding his Employer

New York Resident Matthew Doyle Used Losing Natural Gas Futures Transactions to Perpetrate the Fraud

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that the Honorable John E. Sprizzo, a United States District Court Judge in the Southern District of New York, entered an order imposing monetary sanctions of more than $3.6 million, a permanent injunction, and other relief against Matthew Doyle of Wantagh, New York.

The order requires Doyle to make restitution to his employer in the amount of $3,507,118.63 (plus post-judgment interest) and to pay a civil monetary penalty in the amount of $130,000. Doyle was further permanently prohibited from trading in any commodity and from applying for registration with the CFTC. The order stems from a CFTC complaint filed against Doyle in August 2006 for engaging in a scheme to defraud certain customers and his employer, a registered New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) floor broker (see CFTC News Release 5221-06, August 24, 2006).

Specifically, the court order found that, during the week of April 18, 2005, Doyle fraudulently attempted to assign losing trades of natural gas futures contracts to customers’ accounts, but, when that failed, he assigned the losing trades to his employer’s account, resulting in his employer suffering millions of dollars in losses.

The CFTC wishes to thank the New York Mercantile Exchange compliance staff for their assistance with this investigation.

The following CFTC staff members were responsible for this case: Eliud Ramirez, John Cipriani, Manal Sultan, Steven Ringer, Lenel Hickson, Stephen J. Obie, and Vincent A. McGonagle.

Media Contacts
Ianthe Zabel
202-418-5080

Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: July 20, 2007