July 2, 2019

CFTC Charges Hedge Fund with Violating Wheat Futures Speculative Position Limits

Washington, DC — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Elephas Investment Management Ltd. (Elephas), a Hong Kong based hedge fund, for violating wheat futures speculative position limits. The Order requires Elephas to pay a $160,000 civil monetary penalty.

The Order finds that on November 29, 2017, Elephas held a net long position in the Chicago Board of Trade’s December 2017 soft red winter wheat futures contract of more than 1,000 contracts in excess of the spot month speculative position limit established by the CFTC.

The CFTC’s investigation was conducted in conjunction with a related inquiry by the CME Group (CME), which today also announced a disciplinary action against Elephas. As noted in the CFTC Order, in determining its penalty, the CFTC recognized Elephas’ payment of $166,590 to CME as part of the CME disciplinary action for the benefit Elephas received in reduced losses from liquidating its overage through the delivery process. The CFTC thanks CME for its assistance in this matter.

The staff members responsible for this case are Joseph Patrick, Robert Howell and Scott Williamson, Linda Chalet, Janet Briner, Kelly Beck and Matthew Hunter.