November 21, 2016

CFTC Releases Annual Enforcement Results for Fiscal Year 2016

Agency Filed 68 Enforcement Cases and Achieved $1.29 Billion in Monetary Sanctions Ordered

Highlights Include Successful Bench and Jury Trials, Issuance of Largest Whistleblower Award, and Significant Cases Brought Pursuant to Dodd-Frank Authority

Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today released the agency’s enforcement results for fiscal year (FY) 2016. In the fiscal year that ended in September, the CFTC filed 68 enforcement actions, which addressed a sweeping range of misconduct and market harm, and obtained orders totaling approximately $1.29 billion in restitution, disgorgement, and penalties.

Along with new enforcement actions, the CFTC aggressively pursued litigation in over 100 cases, including significant and complex cases charging manipulation, spoofing, and unlawful use of customer funds, and won liability verdicts in both jury and bench trials in U.S. District Courts. The CFTC also issued a whistleblower award of more than $10 million, marking the largest such award since Congress created the CFTC Whistleblower program in 2010, and reflecting the continued growth and impact of the Agency’s Whistleblower Office.

“The CFTC’s enforcement record shows that the CFTC brings critical, high impact cases that protect customers and ensure the integrity and transparency of the derivatives markets we regulate,” said CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad. “The work of the Enforcement Division is the instrument by which the CFTC sends the clear and unwavering message to those who engage in wrongdoing in our markets that they will be held accountable.”

During FY 2016, the CFTC collected and deposited at the U.S. Treasury over $484 million in civil monetary penalties, nearly double the CFTC’s operating budget for FY 2016. Furthermore, the CFTC this year secured over $748 million in civil monetary penalties and $543 million in restitution and disgorgement orders, bringing the CFTC’s total monetary sanctions for FY 2016 to over $1.29 billion.

“The Division’s work over the past year demonstrates that those who would cheat or defraud investors in our markets, or undermine the integrity of the markets themselves, will face the determined efforts of the CFTC, as well as the criminal prosecutors who are our partners in this effort,” said Aitan Goelman, the Division of Enforcement’s Director. “Our trial record this past year also reflects the Division’s ability and will to successfully prosecute our cases through trial.”

The agency’s high impact cases include:
 

Also of note, the Division continued its robust cooperation with foreign regulators and law enforcement officials in combating the international roots of many of its investigations. Finally, the Division continued and intensified its already close cooperation with the criminal authorities in pursuing criminal sanctions, including prison time for culpable individuals, for willful violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.

Media Contact
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Last Updated: November 21, 2016