CFTC v. Marcus Schultz (misappropriated information and fictitious trading, 2020)

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 September 2020, the CFTC settled charges against Houston trader Marcus Schultz for misappropriating his employer's confidential information to enter fictitious trades and for false statements to the CFTC and ICE Futures US, ordering a US$669,750 penalty and US$427,067 disgorgement.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	CFTC
Release number	8266-20
Date filed	2020-09-30
Date resolved	2020-09-30
Status	settled
Asset class	commodities, futures
Venue	ICE
Criminal parallel	Yes: charged (Schultz (information filed)), Southern District of Texas, 2020-06-29
Defendants	Marcus Schultz (individual)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $670k
Disgorgement: $427k
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: $1.1m
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 30, 2020 as release 8266-20. The respondents named are Marcus Schultz (1 individual, 0 entities).

The order finds that Schultz used his employer's confidential information in a scheme to enter fictitious trades for personal profit and lied to the CFTC and the exchange to conceal it. The release does not describe trades in which the same owner sat on both sides.

This library applies no technique tag to the matter. The conduct is misappropriation of confidential information combined with collusive trades; the release does not describe wash trades and no other technique page fits.

A $669,750 civil monetary penalty, disgorgement of $427,067.45, and a six-year ban from trading and registration, with offsets for certain criminal payments.

Schultz settled without a trial; a related criminal case was filed in June 2020.

Timeline

2020-09-30 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.