Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Office of External Affairs 

 Three Lafayette Centre 

 1155 21st Street, NW 

 Washington, DC 20581 

 202.418.5080 

Statement 

Statement of Acting Chairman Walter L. Lukken 

(As Prepared for Delivery) 

July 24, 2008 

Today the CFTC is announcing the first case relating to its Nationwide Crude Oil 

Investigation. The CFTC is charging a proprietary trading firm, Optiver, and several 

related defendants with manipulation and attempted manipulation on multiple occasions 

in March 2007 of energy futures contracts traded on the NYMEX, including crude oil, 

heating oil and gasoline. In addition, the CFTC is charging Optiver and its CEO with 

making false statements to the exchange. 

As alleged in the complaint, on several days in March of 2007, Optiver’s traders 

amassed large positions in several contracts and then conducted trading in a way so as 

to “bully” and “hammer” the markets to benefit their positions. Although this trading 

scheme was designed to avoid regulatory detection, their activity was promptly 

uncovered by the compliance department of NYMEX, and the Commission worked in 

tandem with the exchange to stop the scheme in its tracks and to build the case we are 

announcing today. 

These charges go to the heart of the CFTC’s core mission of detecting and rooting out 

illegal and intentional manipulation of the markets. As with most of our manipulation 

cases, this alleged activity was meant to artificially move prices for short, discrete 

periods of time—in this case, temporarily moving prices up or down for several minutes 

over certain days in March 2007. But even such short-term distortions of prices will not 

be tolerated. Today’s filing is a reminder that the Commission stands ready to fully 

utilize its enforcement powers to track down anyone who is illegally trying to game the 

markets. 

The CFTC has an effective two-pronged approach to market oversight. On the front 

end, we have a highly skilled set of economists and market specialists conducting daily 

surveillance of the markets. These individuals review market data constantly and look 

for changes in market behavior that could result in market disruption or manipulation. 

Just as important is the second prong: robust enforcement. In instances where 

individual traders are believed to have broken the law, the Enforcement Division 
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aggressively pursues and punishes this activity in order to bring these individuals to 

justice and deter others from attempting to harm the markets. Since December 2002, 

the Commission has filed 41 enforcement actions involving the energy markets and has 

assessed half a billion dollars in penalties. 

This is the first case filed by the Commission under the leadership of Stephen Obie as 

Acting Director of our Division of Enforcement. Steve has ably led the team in charge of 

this case and I have nothing but the utmost confidence that Steve and our Division of 

Enforcement will continue to police the energy markets aggressively. 

Steve will go into more detail about the case itself and the valuable assistance that the 

Commission’s Enforcement Division received from NYMEX. I want to thank NYMEX for 

its continuing partnership with the Commission in the oversight of the U.S. energy 

markets. I would also like to acknowledge Margaret Cole, head of enforcement with the 

United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority, who has worked with the Commission 

on this case. Markets are increasingly global and as such, regulatory authorities must 

partner across national boundaries to protect consumers and the integrity of the 

marketplace.