NEW YORK, NY – July 25, 2011 – Christopher Louis Pia of North Castle, New York, has been penalized by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for attempting to manipulate the settlement prices of palladium and platinum futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Pia, a former portfolio manager for Moore Capital Management, LLC, engaged in the manipulative trading practice known as “banging the close” between November 2007 and May 2008.
The CFTC order requires Pia to pay a $1 million civil monetary penalty. He is also permanently banned from trading CFTC-regulated products during market closing periods and specifically prohibited from trading platinum and palladium futures. Furthermore, Pia must distribute the CFTC order to current investors, employees, principals, and officers, and provide a disclosure document detailing the CFTC action to existing and prospective clients.
According to the CFTC, Pia executed market-on-close buy orders in the final ten seconds of trading for both palladium and platinum contracts, aiming to artificially inflate the settlement prices. This strategy was frequently employed throughout the relevant period while he was at Moore Capital.
“To protect market participants and promote market integrity, individuals who attempt to manipulate commodity prices must and will be held personally accountable,” stated David Meister, Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement. “As demonstrated by today’s action, the Commission will not hesitate to impose significant sanctions on such traders.”
The order mandates a five-year monitoring period to ensure Pia’s compliance. It also establishes undertakings related to any entity he owns or controls and imposes registration conditions should he or his entities seek to register with the CFTC in the future. Pia is required to submit a compliance report to the Commission within 120 days.
This action follows a similar CFTC order issued on April 29, 2010, against Moore Capital Management, LP, Moore Capital Advisors, LLC, and Moore Advisors, Ltd., which resulted in a $25 million penalty and trading restrictions for the companies related to similar manipulation and supervisory violations. The CME Group, parent company of NYMEX, assisted the CFTC in this investigation.
Source: CFTC.gov
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