Subscribe
‘Enforcement 40’ for 2020
Our Sponsors
Join Us On LinkedIn
Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedInThe CFTC Is Cracking Down on Crypto
Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged three decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms – Opyn, Inc., ZeroEx (0x), Inc. and Deridex, Inc. – with operating illegal derivatives trading services. Notably, the CFTC reprimanded the smart-contract based trading platforms for supporting tokens that were issued by third-parties. Just a week earlier, a New York court dismissed […]
CFTC Cracks Down on DeFi Firms Over Crypto Derivatives Trading – WSJ
Three decentralized finance companies agreed to settle charges filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that they illegally offered derivatives trading in cryptocurrency, the agency said Thursday. The CFTC said the companies, Opyn and ZeroEx, both based in California, and North Carolina-based Deridex, illegally offered leveraged and margined retail commodities transactions in cryptocurrency. Deridex and Opyn […]
Former Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office Christopher Ehrman joins Whistleblower Law Firm Phillips & Cohen | Phillips & Cohen
Christopher Ehrman, the former Director of the Whistleblower Office of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has joined the whistleblower law firm of Phillips & Cohen LLP as a partner in its Washington, DC office. Ehrman served as the Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office since July 2013. Under his leadership, successful enforcement actions based on information provided by whistleblowers resulted […]
Goldman Sachs to Pay $5.5 Million Over Audio Recording Failures During Pandemic – WSJ
Goldman Sachs agreed to pay about $5.5 million to settle allegations it failed to record and retain mobile device calls made by its traders at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in violation of record-keeping rules and a previous settlement agreement. The civil fine, announced by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday, was the […]
Director of CFTC’s Whistleblower Program Steps Down – WSJ
Christopher Ehrman, the director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s whistleblower program since 2013, is leaving the agency effective immediately and will begin representing whistleblowers as a lawyer in private practice. The derivatives-market regulator said Christina McGlosson, who recently returned to her role as associate director of the whistleblower office after two years in the private […]
A Path Forward for Regulating Crypto Markets – WSJ
For these reasons we continue to believe that other actions, besides litigation, should be taken if we are to reach an appropriate end. Most notably, the SEC and CFTC should jointly develop basic investor and market protection standards for trading platforms as they exist today. The agencies could act directly or through a self-regulatory organization, […]
Fugitive Mirror CEO Ordered to Pay $3.4 Billion in Fraud Case Involving Bitcoin – Bloomberg
A US judge ordered a South African executive to pay more than $3.4 billion in restitution and fines for a fraud scheme involving Bitcoin — the highest-ever civil monetary penalty in any US Commodity Futures Trading Commission case. Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, the founder and chief executive officer of Mirror Trading International Proprietary, committed fraud tied […]
CFTC Chief Says Binance Intentionally Flouted US Regulations
The head of Commodity Futures Trading Commission admonished Binance Holdings Ltd over its compliance with US rules after the derivatives regulator sued the crypto exchange and its chief executive last month for a litany of alleged violations. “These are not unsophisticated individuals,” CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam said Thursday at an event hosted by Princeton University. […]
CFTC Charges Against Binance Highlight Role of Former Compliance Chief – WSJ
The suit by U.S. regulators against Binance Holdings Ltd. focuses in large part on the work of the cryptocurrency exchange’s former chief compliance officer, alleging he willfully aided and abetted the firm in evading U.S. laws. Samuel Lim, Binance’s compliance chief between 2018 and 2022, faces civil charges of undermining Binance’s compliance program and conducting […]
Binance, Coinbase Scrutiny Signify Crypto Crackdown – Bloomberg
Also in March, the SEC sued crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun for allegedly manipulating the market—and accused celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul, of promoting Sun’s tokens without disclosing they were paid to do so. The implicit message from regulators: They’re out to tame almost every corner of the crypto market, whether Americans are trading on […]