On May 6, the CFTC announced that it had issued an order settling allegations that a trader engaged in “spoofing” (i.e., bidding or offering with the intent to cancel before execution) on approximately 50 occasions between January and September of 2019 while trading treasury futures on the Chicago Board of Trade. According to the order, the respondent served as head of the linear rates desk at a global financial institution’s New York office and allegedly placed spoof orders primarily in Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond futures contracts to create false signals of supply or demand, inducing counterparties to trade against his actual positions in correlated futures contracts and cash Treasuries. The CFTC determined these actions constituted spoofing in violation of Section 4c(a)(5)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act. Without admitting or denying the agency’s findings, the respondent — who the order states has never been registered with the CFTC — submitted an offer of settlement, which the CFTC accepted. Under the order, the respondent must pay a $200,000 civil monetary penalty, cease and desist from further spoofing violations, and is prohibited from trading commodity interests for one month.