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 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

United States District Court 

Northern District of Illinois 

Case No. 20-3758

PLAINTIFF CFTC’S UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR SIGNED AND SEALED SPANISHLANGUAGE HAGUE REQUEST FORMS 

Plaintiff Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) respectfully requests that, 

to effect service upon Defendant Timothy Evans via the Hague Convention on Service Abroad of 

Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Hague Convention”), 

and at the request of Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (“Secretariat”), the Court direct the 

Clerk to sign and affix the Clerk’s seal to three copies of the official Hague service request form, 

attached hereto as Ex. A. 

BACKGROUND 

The CFTC filed the above-captioned action for violations of the Commodity Exchange 

Act and accompanying regulations on June 26, 2020. (Doc. 1, Compl.) The Clerk subsequently 

issued summonses to all defendants, including Timothy M. Evans, who resides in Tulum, 

Mexico. (Id. ¶ 17.) 

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(1), a person may be served outside the United 

States by any internationally agreed means of service, such as those authorized by the Hague 

Convention. Mexico is a signatory to the Hague Convention, which allows for service of process 

through a designated “central authority.” See 20 U.S.T. 361 (Hague Convention); see also

Hague Conference on Private International Law (“HCCH”) website, available at 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 53 Filed: 01/04/21 Page 1 of 4 PageID #:364
https://www.hcch.net/en/states/hcch-members/details1/?sid=54 (last visited December 22, 2020). 

In Mexico’s case, the central authority is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate-General of 

Legal Affairs. HCCH website, available at https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities (last 

visited December 22, 2020). 

Accordingly, on July 7, 2020, the undersigned counsel for the CFTC sent Mexico’s 

central authority, in triplicate, English and Spanish-language versions of the complaint and 

summons. The undersigned also sent, in triplicate, English and Spanish-language versions of the 

official Hague service request form. 

On December 3, 2020, the CFTC received a letter from Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign 

Affairs highlighting purported deficiencies in the CFTC’s service request (referred to for some 

reason as “letters rogatory”) and requesting, inter alia, that the request be “signed and sealed in 

original” by the “requesting court” in Spanish, and in triplicate.1

 (Ex. B, Letter from Jose Luis 

Amaro Jaramillo, Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, to Ashley J. Burden, Counsel for CFTC 

(August 12, 2020).) 

PRAYER FOR RELIEF 

Pursuant to the Secretariat’s letter, and in order to effect service on Defendant Evans, the 

CFTC respectfully requests that the Court direct the Clerk to sign and seal the attached Spanish-

 

1

 It is unclear why signed and sealed versions of the request form should be required by the Secretariat. 

This requirement is not set forth in the Hague Convention. Nor is it set forth in Mexico’s objections or 

reservations to specific articles in the Convention. See HCCH website, available at 

https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/notifications/?csid=412&disp=resdn (last 

visited December 22, 2020). Nonetheless, if this is what the Secretariat requires, the CFTC must seek to 

comply. 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 53 Filed: 01/04/21 Page 2 of 4 PageID #:365
language request form in triplicate, and to provide originals of such documents to the CFTC. 

Specifically, the CFTC respectfully requests that the Court direct the Clerk to affix its signature 

and seal to, and to date, the bottom of the first page of the request form (where it says, “done at” 

and “signature/stamp”). The CFTC has attached hereto completed Hague service request form 

with Spanish-language responses in the fillable blanks, along with a separate English translation 

of those responses and a declaration attesting to the accuracy of the translation.2 (Ex. A.) 

If this motion is granted, the counsel for the CFTC can collect the signed, sealed, and 

dated request forms in person from the Clerk’s office at the Dirksen Center, or provide the 

Clerk’s office with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. 

 /s/ Ashley J. Burden 

 Ashley J. Burden 

Counsel for Plaintiff CFTC 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Division of Enforcement 

525 W. Monroe St., Ste. 1100 

Chicago, IL 60661 

(312) 596-0700 

aburden@cftc.gov 

 

 

 

2

 The CFTC has reason to believe that Defendants Evans’s address in Mexico may have changed. The 

attached request form reflects the updated address. 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 53 Filed: 01/04/21 Page 3 of 4 PageID #:366
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that on January 4, 2021, I provided service to the persons listed below, 

and by the following means: 

Via the Court’s electronic CM/ECF system: Via email, pursuant to D.E. 13, to: 

Jim Falvey 

jimfalvey@yahoo.com 

Falvey Law Office 

200 S. Wacker Dr., Ste. 3100 

Chicago, IL 60606-5877 

(312) 404-5839 

Counsel to Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. 

and James A. Donelson 

Andrew S. May 

amay@hinshawlaw.com 

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP 

151 N. Franklin St., Ste. 2500 

Chicago, IL 60606 

(312) 704-3400 

Counsel to Jeremy Ruth 

Andrew D. Nelson 

adnelson0503@gmail.com 

267 May St. E. 

Elmhurst, IL 60126 

Pro se 

 /s/ Ashley J. Burden 

 Ashley J. Burden 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Division of Enforcement 

525 W. Monroe St., Ste. 1100 

Chicago, IL 60661 

(312) 596-0700 

aburden@cftc.gov 

Case: 1:20-cv-03758 Document #: 53 Filed: 01/04/21 Page 4 of 4 PageID #:367