The CFTC issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Arya Motazedi for engaging in fraudulent transactions in the New York Mercantile Exchange’s (NYMEX) RBOB Gasoline Physical futures contract and CL Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contract involving two personal accounts he owned or controlled and a company account he traded for his former employer.
Among other things, the Order alleges that Motazedi accomplished his fraud by misappropriating non-public, confidential, and material information. According to the CFTC, Motazedi and his employer shared a relationship of trust and confidence that gave rise to a duty of confidentiality. In addition, the CFTC alleges that his employer’s internal policies prohibited the misuse of proprietary or confidential information, and prohibited employees from engaging in personal transactions involving energy contracts and other personal transactions that created an actual or potential conflict of interest. Based on his position as a gasoline futures trader, Motazedi routinely had access to material non-public information concerning the times, volume, and prices at which his employer intended to trade energy commodity futures for its proprietary account. The CFTC further found Motazedi breached his duties to his employer by using this information to trade in personal trading accounts and by failing to disclose such trading to his employer.
Motazedi did not consent to the use of the Order or the findings or conclusions in the Order by any other party in any other proceeding.
