NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION

FILE NO.:

COMEX 12-9058-BC

NON-MEMBER:

GUILLAUME MARCHAND

EXCHANGE RULE:

Rule 534. Wash Trades Prohibited

No person shall place or accept buy and sell orders in the same product and expiration month, and, for a put or call option, the same strike price, where the person knows or reasonably should know that the purpose of the orders is to avoid taking a bona fide market position exposed to market risk (transactions commonly known or referred to as wash sales). Buy and sell orders for different accounts with common beneficial ownership that are entered with the intent to negate market risk or price competition shall also be deemed to violate the prohibition on wash trades. Additionally, no person shall knowingly execute or accommodate the execution of such orders by direct or indirect means.
 

FINDINGS:

Pursuant to an offer of settlement that Guillaume Marchand (“Marchand”) presented at a hearing on February 5, 2014, in which Marchand neither admitted nor denied the rule violations upon which the penalty is based, a Panel of the COMEX Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that Marchand is subject to the jurisdiction of the Exchange because at the time of the transactions at issue, he was an employee of Merrill Lynch Commodities (Europe) Limited, an affiliate of a COMEX member and that on certain dates in April 2012, he entered a series of buy and sell orders in various Gold options and Copper futures contracts between accounts with the same beneficial owner.

The Panel found that as a result of the foregoing, Marchand violated Exchange Rules 534.
 

PENALTY:

In accordance with the settlement offer, the Panel ordered Marchand to pay a fine to the Exchange in the amount of $5,000. The Panel also suspended Marchand from all direct or indirect access to any trading floor or electronic trading or clearing platform owned or operated by CME Group Inc., including Globex, for a period of 5 business days. The suspension will run from February 7, 2014 through February 13, 2014, inclusive.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE:

February 7, 2014