Release: 4797-03 (CFTC Docket # 02-14)
For Release: June 18, 2003

CFTC FINDS COFFEE TRADER DEIRDRE ANDERSON CONDUCTED FRAUDULENT TRADING SCHEME AND MANAGERS FAILED TO PROPERLY SUPERVISE HER

Anderson and George Lamborn of New York and Richard Lani of New Jersey Are Sanctioned

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that it has settled an enforcement action against Deirdre Anderson of Staten Island, New York; George Lamborn of Southampton, New York; and Richard Lani of Princeton, New Jersey.

The settlement results from a CFTC administrative complaint filed on July 15, 2002, charging that Anderson, who was associated with the now-defunct introducing broker Lamborn Securities Inc. (LSI), fraudulently allocated over 400 coffee futures orders on behalf of certain preferred customers. Lamborn and Lani, respectively President and a principal of LSI, were charged with failing to properly supervise the trading activities of Anderson and others at LSI. (See CFTC News Release 4771-02, July 15, 2002.)

In its order making findings and imposing sanctions, the CFTC specifically finds that, during 1997 and 1998, Anderson and others at LSI placed orders with clerks working for certain coffee floor brokers without providing sufficient customer account identification. The CFTC order further finds that after the orders were executed, Anderson was able to determine which trades were profitable, and then allocated the winning trades to preferred customers and the losing trades to other customers. According to the order, Lamborn and Lani failed to detect this fraudulent allocation scheme because, among other things, they failed to take adequate measures to investigate suspicious trading activity by Anderson.s customers, and they failed to review adequately office order tickets prepared by Anderson and her staff. The order finds that these supervisory failures helped facilitate the fraudulent allocation scheme.

The order directs Anderson, Lamborn, and Lani to stop violating the Commodity Exchange Act, permanently bars Anderson from trading or being registered with the CFTC, and requires her to pay a $110,000 civil penalty. The order also requires Lamborn and Lani to each pay a $25,000 civil penalty and prohibits each from acting in a supervisory capacity for any activities involving the trading of commodity futures or options for a two-year period.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff were responsible for this case: Christina Kang, John Cipriani, Steven Ringer, Beth R. Morgenstern, Lenel Hickson, Jr., Stephen J. Obie and Vincent McGonagle.

A copy of the CFTC complaint and the order may be obtained at www.cftc.gov.

Media Contact:
Stephen J. Obie
Regional Counsel and Associate Director
CFTC Division of Enforcement, New York
646-746-9766

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