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CFTC v. Christian Trunz (spoofing, 2019)

Judgment entered

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission obtained a judgment against Christian Trunz, alleging conduct this library classifies as spoofing. The release does not state a monetary figure that we were able to extract. A parallel criminal matter is referenced in the release.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency CFTC
Release number 8014-19
Date filed 2019-09-16
Date resolved 2019-09-16
Status judgment
Asset class commodities, futures
Criminal parallel Yes: guilty plea (Trunz)
Defendants Christian Trunz (individual)
Techniques Spoofing

What was ordered

Civil penalty
—
Disgorgement
—
Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
—
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, 2019 as release 8014-19. The respondents named are Christian Trunz (1 individual, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as spoofing, 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.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

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.

Timeline

  1. 2019-09-16 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.

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.

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

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. Frank M. Cerisano Jr. (spoofing, 2026) SEC 2026-08-10 Spoofing $335k settled
SEC v. Mingran Wang (spoofing, 2026) SEC 2026-06-25 Spoofing — settled
CFTC v. Sidney Lebental (spoofing, 2026) CFTC 2026-05-06 Spoofing $200k judgment
CFTC v. Gregg Smith and Michael Nowak (spoofing, 2026) CFTC 2026-01-16 Spoofing $350k judgment
SEC v. Artur Khachatryan (spoofing, 2025) SEC 2025-12-16 Spoofing $112k settled
CFTC v. Brett Falloon and Flatiron Futures Traders LLC (spoofing, 2025) CFTC 2025-09-09 Spoofing $200k judgment

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.