(1) Prohibition against manipulation

It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to use or employ, or attempt to use or employ, in connection with any swap, or a contract of sale of any commodity in interstate commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity, any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance, in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission shall promulgate by not later than 1 year after July 21, 2010, provided no rule or regulation promulgated by the Commission shall require any person to disclose to another person nonpublic information that may be material to the market price, rate, or level of the commodity transaction, except as necessary to make any statement made to the other person in or in connection with the transaction not misleading in any material respect.

(A) Special provision for manipulation by false reporting

Unlawful manipulation for purposes of this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, delivering, or causing to be delivered for transmission through the mails or interstate commerce, by any means of communication whatsoever, a false or misleading or inaccurate report concerning crop or market information or conditions that affect or tend to affect the price of any commodity in interstate commerce, knowing, or acting in reckless disregard of the fact that such report is false, misleading or inaccurate.

(B) Effect on other law

Nothing in this paragraph shall affect, or be construed to affect, the applicability of section 13(a)(2) of this title.

(C) Good faith mistakes

Mistakenly transmitting, in good faith, false or misleading or inaccurate information to a price reporting service would not be sufficient to violate paragraph (1)(A).

(2) Prohibition regarding false information

Terms Used In 7 USC 9

  • Board: means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. See 7 USC 1a
  • Commission: means the Commodity Futures Trading Commission established under section 2(a)(2) of this title. See 7 USC 1a
  • commodity: means wheat, cotton, rice, corn, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed, grain sorghums, mill feeds, butter, eggs, Solanum tuberosum (Irish potatoes), wool, wool tops, fats and oils (including lard, tallow, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, and all other fats and oils), cottonseed meal, cottonseed, peanuts, soybeans, soybean meal, livestock, livestock products, and frozen concentrated orange juice, and all other goods and articles, except onions (as provided by section 13-1 of this title) and motion picture box office receipts (or any index, measure, value, or data related to such receipts), and all services, rights, and interests (except motion picture box office receipts, or any index, measure, value or data related to such receipts) in which contracts for future delivery are presently or in the future dealt in. See 7 USC 1a
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • contract of sale: includes sales, agreements of sale, and agreements to sell. See 7 USC 1a
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • interstate commerce: means commerce&mdash. See 7 USC 1a
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • member: means , with respect to a registered entity or derivatives transaction execution facility, an individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust&mdash. See 7 USC 1a
  • officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
  • person: import s the plural or singular, and includes individuals, associations, partnerships, corporations, and trusts. See 7 USC 1a
  • registered entity: means &mdash. See 7 USC 1a
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • swap: includes a master agreement that provides for an agreement, contract, or transaction that is a swap under subparagraph (A), together with each supplement to any master agreement, without regard to whether the master agreement contains an agreement, contract, or transaction that is not a swap pursuant to subparagraph (A). See 7 USC 1a
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.

It shall be unlawful for any person to make any false or misleading statement of a material fact to the Commission, including in any registration application or any report filed with the Commission under this chapter, or any other information relating to a swap, or a contract of sale of a commodity, in interstate commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity, or to omit to state in any such statement any material fact that is necessary to make any statement of a material fact made not misleading in any material respect, if the person knew, or reasonably should have known, the statement to be false or misleading.

(3) Other manipulation

In addition to the prohibition in paragraph (1), it shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to manipulate or attempt to manipulate the price of any swap, or of any commodity in interstate commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity.

(4) Enforcement

(A) Authority of Commission

If the Commission has reason to believe that any person (other than a registered entity) is violating or has violated this section, or any other provision of this chapter (including any rule, regulation, or order of the Commission promulgated in accordance with this section or any other provision of this chapter), the Commission may serve upon the person a complaint.

(B) Contents of complaint

A complaint under subparagraph (A) shall—

(i) contain a description of the charges against the person that is the subject of the complaint; and

(ii) have attached or contain a notice of hearing that specifies the date and location of the hearing regarding the complaint.

(C) Hearing

A hearing described in subparagraph (B)(ii)—

(i) shall be held not later than 3 days after service of the complaint described in subparagraph (A);

(ii) shall require the person to show cause regarding why—

(I) an order should not be made—

(aa) to prohibit the person from trading on, or subject to the rules of, any registered entity; and

(bb) to direct all registered entities to refuse all privileges to the person until further notice of the Commission; and


(II) the registration of the person, if registered with the Commission in any capacity, should not be suspended or revoked; and


(iii) may be held before—

(I) the Commission; or

(II) an administrative law judge designated by the Commission, under which the administrative law judge shall ensure that all evidence is recorded in written form and submitted to the Commission.

(5) Subpoena

For the purpose of securing effective enforcement of the provisions of this chapter, for the purpose of any investigation or proceeding under this chapter, and for the purpose of any action taken under section 16(f) of this title, any member of the Commission or any Administrative Law Judge or other officer designated by the Commission (except as provided in paragraph (7)) may administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, or other records that the Commission deems relevant or material to the inquiry.

(6) Witnesses

The attendance of witnesses and the production of any such records may be required from any place in the United States, any State, or any foreign country or jurisdiction at any designated place of hearing.

(7) Service

A subpoena issued under this section 1 may be served upon any person who is not to be found within the territorial jurisdiction of any court of the United States in such manner as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure prescribe for service of process in a foreign country, except that a subpoena to be served on a person who is not to be found within the territorial jurisdiction of any court of the United States may be issued only on the prior approval of the Commission.

(8) Refusal to obey

In case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to, any person, the Commission may invoke the aid of any court of the United States within the jurisdiction in which the investigation or proceeding is conducted, or where such person resides or transacts business, in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records. Such court may issue an order requiring such person to appear before the Commission or member or Administrative Law Judge or other officer designated by the Commission, there to produce records, if so ordered, or to give testimony touching the matter under investigation or in question.

(9) Failure to obey

Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof. All process in any such case may be served in the judicial district wherein such person is an inhabitant or transacts business or wherever such person may be found.

(10) Evidence

On the receipt of evidence under paragraph (4)(C)(iii), the Commission may—

(A) prohibit the person that is the subject of the hearing from trading on, or subject to the rules of, any registered entity and require all registered entities to refuse the person all privileges on the registered entities for such period as the Commission may require in the order;

(B) if the person is registered with the Commission in any capacity, suspend, for a period not to exceed 180 days, or revoke, the registration of the person;

(C) assess such person—

(i) a civil penalty of not more than an amount equal to the greater of—

(I) $140,000; or

(II) triple the monetary gain to such person for each such violation; or


(ii) in any case of manipulation or attempted manipulation in violation of this section or section 13(a)(2) of this title, a civil penalty of not more than an amount equal to the greater of—

(I) $1,000,000; or

(II) triple the monetary gain to the person for each such violation; and


(D) require restitution to customers of damages proximately caused by violations of the person.

(11) Orders

(A) Notice

The Commission shall provide to a person described in paragraph (10) and the appropriate governing board of the registered entity notice of the order described in paragraph (10) by—

(i) registered mail;

(ii) certified mail; or

(iii) personal delivery.

(B) Review

(i) In general

A person described in paragraph (10) may obtain a review of the order or such other equitable relief as determined to be appropriate by a court described in clause (ii).

(ii) Petition

To obtain a review or other relief under clause (i), a person may, not later than 15 days after notice is given to the person under clause (i), file a written petition to set aside the order with the United States Court of Appeals—

(I) for the circuit in which the petitioner carries out the business of the petitioner; or

(II) in the case of an order denying registration, the circuit in which the principal place of business of the petitioner is located, as listed on the application for registration of the petitioner.

(C) Procedure

(i) Duty of clerk of appropriate court

The clerk of the appropriate court under subparagraph (B)(ii) shall transmit to the Commission a copy of a petition filed under subparagraph (B)(ii).

(ii) Duty of Commission

In accordance with section 2112 of title 28, the Commission shall file in the appropriate court described in subparagraph (B)(ii) the record theretofore made.

(iii) Jurisdiction of appropriate court

Upon the filing of a petition under subparagraph (B)(ii), the appropriate court described in subparagraph (B)(ii) may affirm, set aside, or modify the order of the Commission.

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