NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION

MEMBER:                   

Robert Anthony Ross

CBOT RULE VIOLATIONS:              

Rule 575. Disruptive Practices Prohibited (in part)

All orders must be entered for the purpose of executing bona fide transactions. Additionally, all non-actionable messages must be entered in good faith for legitimate purposes.

A.  No person shall enter or cause to be entered an order with the intent, at the time of order entry, to cancel the order before execution or to modify the order to avoid execution.

FINDINGS:                  

Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Robert Anthony Ross neither admitted nor denied the rule violation upon which the penalty is based, on August 31, 2021, a Panel of the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”) Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that on multiple occasions between July 2, 2018, and September 4, 2018, Ross entered orders in the November 2018 Soybean futures contract with the intent, at the time of their entry, to cancel these orders. Specifically, the Panel found that Ross layered orders on one side of the order book and cancelled these orders after his smaller resting orders on the opposite side of the book traded.

The Panel concluded that Ross thereby violated CBOT Rule 575.A.

PENALTY:                   

In accordance with the settlement offer, the Panel ordered Ross to pay a fine in the amount of $50,000, disgorge profits in the amount of $10,418.78, and serve a 10-business day suspension beginning on the effective date and continuing through September 16, 2021, inclusive.

EFFECTIVE DATE:                         

September 2, 2021