April 9, 2018

CFTC Orders Floor Broker Anuj C. Singhal to Pay $150,000 Penalty for Spoofing in Wheat Futures Market

Washington DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Anuj C. Singhal, a Dallas, Texas resident and registered floor broker, for engaging in the disruptive trading practice of “spoofing” (bidding or offering with the intent to cancel bids or offers before execution) through manual trading in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) wheat futures market between at least March and June 2016 (the Relevant Period). 

The CFTC Order finds that Singhal frequently engaged in this spoofing activity by first entering larger limit orders on one side of the CME wheat futures market, and at times, several larger orders in succession.  The Order finds that Singhal then entered a smaller, aggressive order (a market order) on the opposite side of the market, which was usually filled instantaneously or within a fraction of a second.  In most instances, the Order finds, after the smaller order was entered and executed Singhal continued to modify his larger orders further away from the market, each modification generally within seconds of the last, but in all such instances those larger orders were cancelled without any part of the order being filled.  The Order finds that Singhal repeated this trading pattern numerous times during the Relevant Period.

According to the Order, in September 2014, Singhal was fined $60,000 by CME Group Inc. (CME Group) for spoofing activity in agricultural futures traded on the CBOT, and he agreed to a three-month trading suspension on CME Group markets (See CBOT 11-8477-BC).  CME Group today also announced disciplinary action against Singhal. 

The CFTC Order requires Singhal to cease and desist his spoofing conduct, imposes a four-month trading suspension on all registered entities, orders Singhal to pay a $150,000 civil monetary penalty, and orders him to comply with his undertakings which include a four-month ban on trading all commodity interests.

The CFTC thanks CME Group for its assistance in this matter.  The CFTC also thanks the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) France for its assistance in this matter.” 

This case is brought in connection with the CFTC Division of Enforcement’s Spoofing Task Force, and the staff members responsible for this case are W. Derek Shakabpa, Michael Cazakoff, Candice Aloisi, Lenel Hickson, Jr. and Manal M. Sultan.