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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS 

EASTERN DIVISION 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc., James A. 

Donelson, Timothy M. Evans, Jeremy S. 

Ruth, and Andrew D. Nelson, 

Defendants. 

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Case No. 20-3758 

Hon. Thomas A. Durkin 

PLAINTIFF CFTC’S MOTION FOR ENTRY OF CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER 

 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), Plaintiff Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission (“CFTC”) moves the Court to enter the proposed confidentiality order, attached as 

Exhibit 1, to ensure the parties take sufficient steps to safeguard discovery material during the 

course of this litigation. 

Defendants Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. and James A. Donelson do not object to the 

entry of the proposed confidentiality order. Defendant Jeremy Ruth has not responded to a 

request for his position on the entry of the proposed confidentiality order. 

BACKGROUND 

This case generally concerns an alleged long-running solicitation fraud scheme carried 

out by Defendant Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. (“Long Leaf”) and its principals and 

employees. Long Leaf was an introducing broker, 7 U.S.C. § 1a(31), and commodity trading 

advisor, 7 U.S.C. § 1a(12); the alleged fraud included material misrepresentations and omissions 

to customers and prospective customers in connection with Long Leaf’s options trading program. 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 70 Filed: 04/07/21 Page 1 of 5 PageID #:542
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Given the nature of Long Leaf’s business as an introducing broker and commodity 

trading advisor, discovery material in this case contains a significant amount of personal 

identifying information and other sensitive material, including but not limited to account opening 

documents (which include social security numbers, dates of birth, and other personal identifying 

information), account statements, and personal banking and financial information. 

 The parties are presently engaged in discovery. To ensure the parties take adequate 

measures to protect the sensitive information in the case’s discovery record, the CFTC 

respectfully requests the Court enter the proposed confidentiality order. The proposed 

confidentiality order is based on the Court’s Local Rule 26.2 model confidentiality order and 

includes modifications primarily related to the CFTC’s status as a government agency. 

ARGUMENT 

 Under Rule 26(c), a district court, “for good cause, [may] issue an order to protect a party 

or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense that might 

arise during discovery.” Gomez v. City of Chicago, 2017 WL 5517254, at *1 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 17, 

2017). A court may “shield certain documents from the public when there is good cause to do 

so,” and Rule 26(c) “confers broad discretion on the trial court to decide when a protective order 

is appropriate and what degree of protection is required.” Id. 

 The Court should enter the proposed confidentiality order to protect sensitive information 

during the discovery phase of the case. Here, there is significant potential harm associated with 

the misuse or disclosure of information concerning former Long Leaf customers and prospective 

customers—who are not parties to this action. The documentary record is voluminous, and as 

described above contains many items created or maintained in the normal course of Long Leaf’s 

business that reflect personal identifying or other sensitive information. 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 70 Filed: 04/07/21 Page 2 of 5 PageID #:543
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Entering the proposed confidentiality order will not impact the Court’s interest in 

ensuring the bases of its actions are sufficiently disclosed to the public. See, e.g., Bond v. 

Utreras, 583 F.3d 1061, 1074–75 (7th Cir. 2009). This is true for two reasons. First, the 

proposed confidentiality order concerns discovery material, which is not a source of information 

that is presumptively disclosed to the public. See id. (“the public’s right of access is limited to 

traditionally publicly available sources of information, and discovered, but not yet admitted, 

information is not a traditionally public source of information”). Second, the proposed 

confidentiality order does not purport to impact the ability of the parties to file material under 

seal in connection with dispositive motions. (Ex. 1 ¶ 9.) 

In sum, the interest in protecting personal identifying and other confidential information 

outweighs any potential interest in public disclosure of that information, particularly during the 

discovery phase of this case. 

CONCLUSION 

 For the reasons stated above, the CFTC requests the Court enter the proposed 

confidentiality order. 

Dated: April 7, 2021. 

 

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/s/ Joseph C. Platt

Counsel to Plaintiff Commodity Futures 

Trading Commission 

Ashley J. Burden 

aburden@cftc.gov 

Elizabeth M. Streit 

estreit@cftc.gov 

Joseph C. Platt 

jplatt@cftc.gov 

Scott R. Williamson 

swilliamson@cftc.gov 

Robert T. Howell 

rhowell@cftc.gov 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Division of Enforcement 

525 W. Monroe St., Ste. 1100 

Chicago, IL 60661 

Phone: (312) 596-0700 

 

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I certify that on April 7, 2021, I provided service of Plaintiff CFTC’s Motion for Entry of 

Confidentiality Order to all parties via CM/ECF or by the alternative means described below: 

Jim Falvey 

Falvey Law Office 

200 S. Wacker Dr., Ste. 3100 

Chicago, IL 60606 

312-404-5839 

jimfalvey@yahoo.com 

Counsel to Defendants Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. 

and James A. Donelson 

By email: 

Defendant Jeremy Ruth 

jeremysruth@hotmail.com 

Pro se

By email: 

Defendant Andrew D. Nelson 

adnelson0503@gmail.com 

Pro se

/s/ Joseph C. Platt

Joseph C. Platt 

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