CFTC secures summary judgment against eFloorTrade
Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the New York Southern District Court agreed with the CFTC that eFloorTrade and the individuals behind it had committed recordkeeping and supervision violations.
About 10 months after the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed its motion for a summary judgment against introducing broker eFloorTrade and the firm’s owner John Moore, the motion has been granted.
On Friday, September 21st, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the New York Southern District Court signed an order for summary judgment against the defendants.
Let’s recall that in September 2016, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the New York Southern District Court against eFloorTrade, LLC and its majority owner and sole principal John Moore, charging them with recordkeeping and supervision failures and charging Moore with making false and misleading statements of material fact, or omitting material facts, in sworn testimony before the CFTC. eFloorTrade, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is registered with the CFTC as an Introducing Broker, and Moore, also of Orlando, is registered with the CFTC as an Associated Person of eFloorTrade.
In particular, the CFTC Complaint alleges that, from October 2010 to at least October 2015, eFloorTrade failed to keep and produce for inspection full, complete, and systematic records of all transactions relating to its business in dealing in commodity interests. The Complaint further alleges that eFloorTrade failed to prepare a written record of the customer orders that it placed (filled, unfilled, or cancelled) as a result of the trading instructions received. In addition, the Complaint alleges that eFloorTrade failed to keep all emails relating to its business of dealing in commodity interest transactions.
Further, according to the Complaint, on September 18, 2015, Moore knew that certain of his statements to the CFTC while testifying under oath were false and misleading.
The CFTC seeks relief including disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and permanent injunctions against further violations of the CEA and CFTC Regulations, as charged.
In explaining his decision, Judge Paul G. Gardephe said that, in fact, it is undisputed that Moore provided false testimony to the CFTC at a September 2015 hearing regarding a spreadsheet that the defendants claimed had been maintained by them. In reality, the defendants did not maintain any spreadsheet containing trading signals and actual trades at that time.
Moore’s efforts to avoid the granting of a summary judgment were defined as insufficient to defeat the CFTC’s motion. He was found to have known that his testimony was false and misleading.
The CFTC’s motion for summary judgment on all four counts was granted.
The case is captioned U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. eFloorTrade, LLC et al (1:16-cv-07544).
