**Release:
    �������� #4217-98 (CFTC Docket No.
    98-4)****For Release:���� December 22,
    1998****CFTC FILES ENFORCEMENT ACTION
    ALLEGING** **FRAUD BY STEVEN G. SOULE
    OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, AND AIDING AND ABETTING FRAUD BY**
    **KYLER F. LUNMAN II OF RUMSON, N.J. AND HOLD-TRADE,
    INC. a/k/a HOLD TRADE, LTD. OF RED BANK, N.J.**

**Complaint Charges that a Former Employee of Coastal Corporation
    Committed Commodity Fraud by Misappropriating Certain of Coastal's
    Profitable Energy Futures Transactions and Wrongfully Allocating Them to
    Other, Non-Coastal Accounts**

**WASHINGTON** -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission
    (CFTC) announced today the filing of a three-count administrative complaint
    alleging that Steven G. Soule (Soule), a former employee of Coastal
    Corporation (Coastal) in its futures trading division, violated the
    anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), specifically
    sections 4b(a)(i), (ii), and (iii), by engaging in a scheme in which energy
    futures trades made on behalf of Coastal were misappropriated and
    wrongfully allocated to accounts controlled by Kyler F. Lunman II (Lunman)
    and his company, Hold-Trade, Inc., a.k.a. Hold Trade, Ltd. (Hold
    Trade).

According to the Complaint, Soule, while
    employed at Coastal, was responsible for entering Coastal's large volume of
    energy futures orders to the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange
    (NYMEX) on a daily basis and initiated fraudulent allocations based on his
    knowledge of Coastal's trading on particular days. Soule was assisted in
    carrying out the allegedly fraudulent allocations by a telephone clerk on
    the floor of the NYMEX who worked for Refined Energy Executions, Inc. and
    Refine Executions, Inc. (collectively, Refined). The Complaint alleges that
    Soule and the clerk ensured the successful completion of the wrongful
    allocations by creating doctored floor order tickets and entering into
    additional transactions to replace those transactions that were
    misappropriated.

Lunman and Hold Trade completed the scheme by providing the accounts
    into which the misappropriated Coastal trades were placed, monitoring the
    movement of Coastal's profitable trades into those accounts, and disbursing
    the ill-gotten gains among the scheme's participants, according to the
    Complaint. Lunman and Hold Trade are being charged with aiding and abetting
    the fraudulent allocation scheme pursuant to section 13(a) of the CEA. Hold
    Trade is also charged as a principal for the actions of its employee,
    Lunman, by operation of section 2(a)(1)(A)(iii) of the Act, and Lunman is
    further charged with liability for violations of section 4b as a
    controlling person of Hold Trade who knowingly induced Hold Trade's
    violations pursuant to section 13(b) of the CEA.

The CFTC's complaint against Soule, Lunman, and Hold Trade institutes a
    public administrative proceeding to determine if the allegations in the
    complaint are true and, if so, whether sanctions should be imposed.
    Possible sanctions include: an order directing the respondents to cease and
    desist from violating the relevant provisions of the Act and regulations; a
    permanent trading prohibition; civil monetary penalties not exceeding
    $100,000 for each violation; and restitution.