CFTC v. Classic Energy LLC and Mathew D. Webb (block trade information misuse, 2021)

Settled

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 June 2021, the CFTC settled charges against former introducing broker Classic Energy LLC and its owner Mathew D. Webb for misusing confidential block trade order information, facilitating non-arm's-length "fictitious" block trades, paying kickbacks and making false statements to ICE Futures US.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	CFTC
Release number	8396-21
Date filed	2021-06-15
Date resolved	2021-06-15
Status	settled
Asset class	futures
Venue	ICE
Criminal parallel	Yes: guilty plea (Mathew D. Webb)
Defendants	Classic Energy LLC (entity) ; Mathew D. Webb (individual)
Also named elsewhere	Classic Energy LLC is named in 1 other matter
Cited as charged or alleged	18 U.S.C. 1343 (wire fraud) ; 18 U.S.C. 1348 (securities fraud) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: —
Disgorgement: $585k
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $585k
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 June 15, 2021 as release 8396-21. The respondents named are Classic Energy LLC and Mathew D. Webb (1 individual, 1 entity).

The order finds that Webb passed customers' confidential block order information to a trader who used it to arrange non-arm's-length block trades with the customer, at prices that let the trader profit on offsetting trades and share those profits with Webb. Webb and Classic also paid kickbacks to certain customer traders and continued the conduct for four more years after a 2019 CFTC action.

This library applies no technique tag to the matter. The conduct is misappropriation of customer order information and collusive block trades. The trades were between different parties, so this is not wash trading, and no other technique page fits.

Webb and Classic agreed to disgorge $585,000 and to undertakings. The order offsets part of any criminal forfeiture, and Webb pleaded guilty in a parallel Department of Justice case.

Webb and Classic admitted the facts in the order.

Timeline

2021-06-15 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.

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.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.