CFTC v. HSBC Bank USA (cash vs derivatives schemes, 2023)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. CFTC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

Machine-extracted, pending human review. The structured fields on this page were parsed automatically from the regulator's own release, linked below. Read the primary document before relying on any figure here, and tell us if something is wrong.

In 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought an action against HSBC Bank USA, alleging conduct this library classifies as cash vs derivatives schemes, insider trading, price manipulation and spoofing. The release records a civil penalty of $1.7 billion.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$1.7bn

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$1.7bn

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 November 7, 2023 as release 8822-23. The respondents named are HSBC Bank USA (0 individuals, 1 entity).

This library tags the matter as cash vs derivatives schemes, insider trading, price manipulation and 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 crypto and futures and fx, with Binance, CBOT, CME, ICE identified in the release.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $1.7 billion. 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.

This matter is at the allegation stage. Nothing in the regulator's filing has been proven, and the respondents are entitled to the presumption that it has not been. This page will be updated if the matter is resolved, dismissed or withdrawn.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 4 techniques 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.

• Cash versus derivatives schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Insider trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Spoofing — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2023-11-07 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
• CFTC order or complaint

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 8, 2026. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.