Deer Park, Illinois-based NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC, doing business as NinjaTrader, Tradovate and TransAct Futures (NTC), has been slapped with a $750,000 penalty by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for failing to adequately supervise its employees and implement emergency account restrictions. The CFTC order, issued September 23, 2024, alleges the firm’s deficiencies contributed to losses for victims of a prior fraud case.
The investigation stemmed from the 2022 case, CFTC v. Patel, which involved alleged fraudulent activity by Rajiv Patel and his company, Bluprint LLC. The court issued a Statutory Restraining Order (SRO) against Patel, requiring the freezing of related accounts. The CFTC found that NTC, as a registered Futures Commission Merchant, did not have sufficient policies and procedures in place to properly handle such emergency situations.
According to the CFTC, beginning on or around December 31, 2020, NTC repeatedly failed to diligently supervise employees tasked with freezing, disabling, or restricting accounts under emergency circumstances. Specifically, in January 2022, when the SRO against Patel was served, NTC’s oversight was deemed inadequate. The firm failed to fully understand and implement the court order, leaving positions in Patel’s accounts open for several days.
During this period, the open positions lost over $200,000 in value, a direct result of NTC’s supervisory failures, the CFTC alleges. The order requires NTC to pay a $750,000 civil monetary penalty, cease and desist from further violations of CFTC regulations, and remit $233,425 in restitution to the court-appointed receiver for distribution to Patel’s victims.
The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement was led by Elsie Robinson, Monique McElwee, Jeff Le Riche, Christopher Reed, and Charles Marvine in this matter.
Source: CFTC.gov
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