NinjaTrader Fined $900K+ by CFTC for Mishandling Fraudulent Accounts
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fined
NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC (NTC) $983,425 for failing to adequately supervise
employee handling of accounts linked to a fraudulent case.
Fraudulent Account Handling
According to the CFTC, the Illinois-based futures
commission merchant failed to exercise due diligence in overseeing employee
actions in managing suspected fraudulent accounts. A statutory restraining
order (SRO) required NinjaTrader to immediately freeze or restrict these accounts, yet the firm reportedly did not act promptly.
The watchdog mentioned that this oversight resulted in open positions losing over $200,000 in value, compounding the financial damage from the fraudulent schemes. Central to the matter, CFTC mentioned that the
company did not implement sufficient policies and procedures for handling such
emergencies.
.@CFTC Orders Illinois Futures Commission Merchant to Pay More Than $980,000 for Supervision Failures: https://t.co/GV2brdqBOW
— CFTC (@CFTC) September 23, 2024
From late 2020 onwards, NinjaTrader reportedly failed
to develop proper protocols for dealing with court orders affecting the flagged
accounts. Despite receiving the SRO in January 2022, the regulator claims the
firm allowed the suspected accounts to remain active.
Penalties and Restitution
As part of the settlement, the CFTC fined NTC a civil monetary penalty of $750,000. In addition, the firm must pay $233,425 in
restitution, which will be distributed to fraud victims. Meanwhile, the CFTC fined Nasdaq Futures, formerly a
designated contract market (DCM), $22 million last month for regulatory
breaches involving its incentive programs.
In the official notice, the commodities regulator
mentioned that Nasdaq Futures operated as a DCM focusing on energy futures
contracts from July 2015 to July 2018. During this period, the firm implemented
an incentive program known as the DMM program.
Although Nasdaq Futures publicly disclosed a fixed
stipend for market makers, CFTC said it failed to disclose a volume-based
component that informed payments to select users. This aspect was reportedly
not disclosed to the regulator as per the regulation. The regulator’s finding added that Nasdaq Futures failed to disclose important details about the volume-based payments and provided false information when questioned.
This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.
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