On April 17, 2025, three operating divisions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jointly issued an advisory to provide guidance on the materiality or other criteria they will use in deciding whether to make a...more
On March 27, 2025, the Futures Industry Association hosted a webinar with Brian Young, the director of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Enforcement. Although he noted that the opinions...more
4/1/2025
/ CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Self-Reporting ,
Settlement ,
White Collar Crimes
On February 25, 2025, the Division of Enforcement of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or the Commission) issued an advisory to Division staff on how to evaluate self-reporting, cooperation and remediation credit...more
2/27/2025
/ CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Remediation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Self-Reporting ,
White Collar Crimes
On February 4, 2025, CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham announced that the agency was reorganizing the Division of Enforcement’s nine task forces “to combat fraud and help victims while ending the practice of regulation by...more
2/7/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Market Manipulation ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Key Points -
- The incoming Trump administration is expected to take a more lenient approach to prosecuting entities, reducing emphasis on bringing actions based on what may be viewed as novel theories.
- Prescriptive...more
1/21/2025
/ CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration
On April 11, 2024, Ian McGinley, the director of enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) addressed the New York City Bar Association Futures and Derivatives Committee to present the benefits of...more
On January 8, 2024, in a decision that underscores the potential viability of fair-notice defenses to U.S. regulators’ rule interpretations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a $6.5 million penalty...more
1/19/2024
/ Appeals ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Holding Companies ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
White Collar Crimes
On September 7, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued three enforcement settlement orders against developers of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. The orders charge Opyn, Inc., Deridex, Inc., and...more
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week seeks “to bring crypto assets within the regulatory perimeter” by granting oversight responsibility to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for most forms...more
7/21/2023
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Token Sales
On October 29, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Enforcement (Division) issued a memorandum (Guidance) providing guidance for Division staff to follow when recommending the recognition of an...more
On August 31, 2020, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued a memorandum to all executive departments and agencies on reforming regulatory enforcement...more
10/14/2020
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Best Practices ,
Burden of Proof ,
CFTC ,
Civil Liability ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
FinCEN ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
OMB ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Review
In a memorandum dated May 20, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Enforcement issued guidance outlining factors that CFTC staff will consider when recommending civil monetary penalties (CMPs)...more
On March 6, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC or Commission) Division of Enforcement (Division) published an advisory on self-reporting and cooperation for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)...more
Upon discovering a potential violation, a company is often faced with the dilemma of whether to self-report the incident to its regulator or attempt to deal with the incident through exclusively internal means. On September...more
On August 7, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) announced a settlement for a civil penalty of $600,000 with the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) for alleged spoofing violations, with...more
8/16/2017
/ Appeals ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Japan ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Spoofing ,
Vagueness
On January 19, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement issued two new enforcement advisories outlining the factors the division will consider in evaluating cooperation in the agency’s...more
In two separate Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) enforcement actions before district courts in New York and Chicago, the CFTC has asked each court to adopt holdings that would significantly enhance the CFTC’s...more