Antitrust: Price Manipulation; Commodity Exchange Act

摘要

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brings this action against various defendants asserting they attempted to manipulate the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WIT) in 2008. There are three types of WIT commodity trades: 1. futures contracts, 2. physical contracts, and 3. calendar spread contracts. CFTC alleges that in late 2007 the supply of WTI at the Gushing hub was relatively low and the near-term prices were high. Several of the defendants responded to this condition by entering the physical contract market through the purchase of nearly 2/3rds of the anticipated supply of WTL The defendants engaged in further actions in the futures contracts designed to cause a drop in prices which would enrich the defendants who had purchased short positions in the futures and spread markets.