CFTC v. Brian Hunter (price manipulation, 2014)

Judgment entered

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In September 2014 the CFTC announced a consent order in the Southern District of New York against Brian Hunter of Calgary, settling charges that he attempted to manipulate NYMEX natural gas futures prices during the expiry on February 24 and April 26, 2006. He pays a $750,000 civil penalty and is permanently banned from trading at expiry in CFTC-regulated products.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$750k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$750k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced this matter on September 16, 2014 as release 7000-14. The respondents named are Brian Hunter (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

This library tags the matter as price manipulation, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against commodities and futures, with NYMEX identified in the release.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $750,000. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2014-09-15 CFTC release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• CFTC release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.