Market Manipulation. Search

CFTC v. Parnon Energy Inc., Arcadia Petroleum Ltd., Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA, James Dyer and Nicholas Wildgoose (price manipulation, 2014)

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 August 2014 the CFTC announced a federal court consent order imposing a $13 million civil penalty on Parnon Energy Inc., Arcadia Petroleum Ltd. and Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA in the CFTC's crude oil manipulation case, with limits on their physical market trading; the case also named traders James Dyer and Nicholas Wildgoose.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency CFTC
Release number 6971-14
Date filed 2014-08-04
Date resolved 2014-08-04
Court U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Status settled
Asset class commodities, futures
Venue NYMEX
Criminal parallel No
Defendants Parnon Energy Inc. (entity) ; Arcadia Petroleum Ltd. (entity) ; Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA (entity) ; James Dyer (individual) ; Nicholas Wildgoose (individual)
Techniques Price manipulation

What was ordered

Civil penalty
$13m
Disgorgement
—
Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
$13m
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 August 5, 2014 as release 6971-14. The respondents named are Parnon Energy Inc., Arcadia Petroleum Ltd., Arcadia Energy (Suisse) SA, James Dyer and Nicholas Wildgoose (2 individuals, 3 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 $13 million. 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.

Timeline

  1. 2014-08-04 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
SEBI v. Shreedhar Yellaiah Kodam (synchronized trades, Well Pack Papers, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-09-22 Matched Orders , Price Manipulation — dismissed
SEBI v. Debock Industries Limited and others (fictitious issues, inflated sales and diverted rights-issue funds, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-28 Misleading Issuer Disclosure , Price Manipulation — judgment
SEBI v. Varanium Cloud Limited and others (false accounts, diverted IPO funds and share sales, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-25 Misleading Issuer Disclosure , Price Manipulation — judgment
SEBI v. Abhay Dwivedi and others (YouTube promotion, Decillion Finance, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-03 Social Media Ramps , Price Manipulation — judgment
CFTC v. George Santos (price manipulation, 2026) CFTC 2026-07-31 Price Manipulation $17.5k settled
SEBI v. Amesh Surajlal Jaiswal and others (Telegram tips, Akash Infra-Projects, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-07-28 Social Media Ramps , Price Manipulation — judgment

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.