WASHINGTON, DC – September 16, 2013 – Susan Butterfield of New Lenox, Illinois, has been ordered to pay a $50,000 civil monetary penalty for providing false testimony to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the agency announced today.
The CFTC’s order, issued today, found that Butterfield knowingly made false and misleading statements during sworn testimony on January 31, 2013, as part of a Division of Enforcement investigation. Butterfield was an employee of a Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) introducing broker, responsible for handling clerical and administrative duties, including recording customer orders.
The investigation centered on the practice of time-stamping order tickets. Accurate time-stamping is crucial for recording the exact time an order is received. The CFTC found that Butterfield falsely denied pre-stamping order tickets – marking them with a time before a customer order was actually received. This practice violates Commission Regulations and CBOT rules, and can facilitate trade allocation schemes that potentially profit at the expense of customers.
Prior to her testimony, Butterfield reportedly informed her supervisor that pre-stamping orders was occurring and “something that is – that we should not be doing.” However, during questioning by the Division of Enforcement, she initially claimed she “never pre-stamped any [order] tickets.” After being presented with contradictory evidence, Butterfield eventually admitted to routinely pre-stamping dozens of order tickets daily.
“When a witness walks into CFTC testimony he or she should plan to tell the truth to every question or face the consequences,” stated David Meister, the CFTC’s Enforcement Director. “We will use the new Dodd-Frank false statements provision against witnesses who provide false or misleading information to make sure it is well understood that lying is not an option.”
In addition to the financial penalty, the CFTC order prohibits Butterfield from applying for registration with the CFTC or engaging in any activity requiring such registration. The charges stem from a violation of the false statements provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), as added by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
Source: CFTC.gov
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