From what I can tell, all this individual did was engaging in money laudering by transferring money from one brokerage account to another. But is this really considered money laundering when both accounts are under your own name? SEC has always been a joke and you can now add CFTC to the same league.
Just because it hasn't happened recently doesn't mean that it can't happen. OEC only has capital of $3.8 million (April CFTC FCM report). Good thing they are owed by OptionsExpress with deep pockets. If you knew the details of the Volume Investors blowout you would know that the customers were made whole only if you don't consider the huge losses generated by the firesale liquidations of open option positions. Look up some of the Volume Investor lawsuits to see how the COMEX screwed over members with badly liquidated option positions.
Money laundering requires that you have money in the first place. The $7.8 milion loss clearly indicates there was little money to start with in the OEC account. All government agencies are a joke. Does Homeland Security make you feel secure?
No specific instance comes to mind, fortunately. Imagine OEC didn't have the $9mm cash to cover the loss. Since accounts are reconciled at the end of the day, the money may have been deducted from other client accounts at OEC. I disagree the CFTC is a "joke." I think the CFTC, in strong contrast to the SEC, generally does a good job. It would be nice if someone from OEC would comment on this thread, i.e., if the $9mm wasn't on hand, where would that money have been debited from? This looks quite bad for OEC.
What is your problem? Are you an apologist for the CFTC and/or the futures industry? I answered your question. Just because there are no recent losses of segregated funds does not mean that such losses cannot happen tomorrow or at some other point in the future. Segregated funds is a very weak customer protection scheme. Having to take legal action and waiting many months to over a year to get what is left of your money back is not proper customer protection. What the CFTC and the futures industry does not tell you is that you do not get back what is lost on the liquidation of open positons at arbitrary prices. The Volume Investors clearing firm failure in 1985 was a major mess and embarrassment for the COMEX. The failure of the clearing firm Klein and Co. Futures Inc in May, 2000 was a similar ugly mess. At some point in the future another futures clearing firm will fail and it will be an ugly mess.
?....Since russian rubles were traded via Globex, the CME would have to pay the deficit. Then the CME would have to go about collecting the debt from OEC......I think.
Peregrine in the UK, and Spike Trading in the US. All within the last 15 years. Peregine's clients got back $0.65 on the dollar, IIRC.