CFTC v. INTL FCStone Financial Inc. and FCStone Merchant Services LLC (exchange for related position transactions, 2017)

Settled

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In November 2017, the CFTC settled charges against FCStone Merchant Services LLC and INTL FCStone Financial Inc., ordering them jointly to pay US$280,000 over invalid exchange-for-physical transactions in Canadian dollar futures and canola seed, and inadequate supervision of such trades.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	CFTC
Release number	7644-17
Date filed	2017-11-14
Date resolved	2017-11-14
Status	settled
Asset class	futures
Venue	CME, OTC
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	INTL FCStone Financial Inc. (entity) ; FCStone Merchant Services LLC (entity)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $280k
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $280k
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 14, 2017 as release 7644-17. The respondents named are INTL FCStone Financial Inc. and FCStone Merchant Services LLC (0 individuals, 2 entities).

The order finds that from December 2013 to March 2014 FCStone Merchant executed futures trades it presented as exchange for physical transactions, but CAD futures and canola seed were not sufficiently related for that purpose, so the trades were noncompetitive and reported non-bona fide prices. FCStone Financial reported them and lacked adequate controls.

This library applies no technique tag to the matter. The conduct is misuse of the exchange-for-related-position mechanism. The release does not describe trades with the same owner on both sides.

A $280,000 civil monetary penalty, imposed jointly, and undertakings.

The respondents consented to the order.

Timeline

2017-11-14 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.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.