NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION

FILE NO.:

CME 09-06323-BC
 

FORMER MEMBER:

MARIA FERNANDEZ

CME RULE VIOLATION:

530. PRIORITY OF CUSTOMER ORDERS

A member shall not buy (sell) a futures contract… for his own account… when he is in possession of an executable order for another person to buy (sell) a futures contract… regardless of the venue of execution.

531. TRADING AGAINST CUSTOMER ORDERS PROHIBITED

A. General Prohibition

No person in possession of a customer order shall knowingly take, directly or indirectly, the opposite side of such order for his own account….

FINDINGS:

Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Fernandez neither admitted nor denied the findings, on March 10, 2010, a Panel of the CME Business Conduct Committee found that on August 25, 2009, Fernandez placed a personal order ahead of an executable customer order in her possession and traded opposite a customer order in the S&P 500 Stock Price Index futures and then engaged in the same conduct in the Nasdaq 100 Index futures. In addition, on August 26, 2009, Fernandez placed a personal order ahead of an executable customer order in the Nasdaq futures. The Panel found that in doing so Fernandez violated CME Rules 530 and 531.

PENALTY:

In accordance with the settlement offer, the Panel fined Fernandez $35,000 and banned her for six weeks from access to CME Group trading floors, reapplying for membership at any CME Group Exchange and having direct access to all CME Group electronic trading and clearing platforms. Fernandez will be given one week credit for the fact that she has been off the floor since September 17, 2009, and has paid restitution to the affected customers. The suspension will run from March 12, 2010, through April 16, 2010, inclusive.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

March 12, 2010