CFTC: Dozens Of Energy Investigations Currently Open
Last update: 7/24/2008 11:19:17 AM
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. futures market regulator Wednesday charged Netherlands-based global trading fund, Optiver Holding BV, two of its units and three employees with manipulation and attempted manipulation of energy markets.
The announcement marks the first case in the agency's broad probe of crude oil market manipulation. The CFTC statement carried no further details on the status of the broader investigation.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it had filed enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Optiver Holding, a global proprietary trading fund, and two of its subsidiaries. The complaints also names defendants Christopher Dowson, Optiver's head trader, Randal Meijer, head of trading and supervisor of the subsidiaries and the company's chief executive Bastiaan van Kempen.
Under pressure to act in the face of record-high oil prices, the CFTC has recently acted to tighten oversight of energy markets.
In an extraordinary action, the agency disclosed in late May that it launched a wide-ranging probe in December 2007 into crude-oil markets, "into practices surrounding the purchase, transportation, storage, and trading of crude oil and related derivative contracts."
The announcement comes as Congress considers giving the regulator greater powers to oversee energy markets, and after the CFTC has been sharply censured for what many lawmakers believe its too lax regulation of the market.
At least one Senator has put a hold on Acting Chairman Walter Lukken's nomination to full chairman in the senate, saying the commission hasn't been policing the markets effectively enough.
-By Ian Talley, Of Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com
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July 24, 2008 11:19 ET (15:19 GMT) |
