Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Roman Banoczay Jr., Roman Banoczay Sr., and their company, BAZUR Spol. S.R.O., of Bratislava, Slovakia, charging them with spoofing and engaging in a manipulative and deceptive scheme in the crude oil futures markets. 

“These charges demonstrate once again that the CFTC continues to vigorously prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, misconduct that has the potential to undermine the integrity of our markets regardless of where wrongdoers may reside,” said Division of Enforcement Director James McDonald.

In its continuing civil litigation, the CFTC seeks, among other relief, civil monetary penalties, disgorgement, trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the federal commodities laws, as charged.

Banoczay Jr. was previously the subject of a disciplinary action brought by the CME Group, Inc. on March 23, 2020 for the same underlying conduct. [See CME Notice of Disciplinary Action NYMEX 18-0877-BC]

Case Background

The complaint alleges that during a four-week period in early 2018, Banoczay Jr., on his own behalf and on behalf of Banoczay Sr. and BAZUR, repeatedly engaged in manipulative or deceptive acts and practices by spoofing—bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution—while placing orders for and trading crude oil futures contracts on CME Group Inc.’s exchanges. Banoczay Jr. placed thousands of orders with the intent to cancel them in order to send false signals of increased buying or selling interest designed to trick market participants into executing the orders the defendants wanted filled. The complaint alleges that Banoczay Sr. and BAZUR are responsible for Banoczay’s illegal trading because he acted as their agent in trading on their behalf.

The CFTC acknowledges and thanks the National Bank of Slovakia and CME Group Inc. for their assistance in this matter.

The Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this case are Ilana Waxman, Brian Hunt, Daniel Jordan, Patrick Marquardt, Jordon Grimm, and Rick Glaser.