The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an Order filing and settling charges against Elephas Investment Management Ltd (Elephas), a Hong Kong based hedge fund, for violating wheat futures speculative position limits. The Order requires Elephas to pay a USD160,000 civil monetary penalty.
The Order finds that on 29 November, 2017, Elephas held a net long position in the Chicago Board of Trade’s December 2017 soft red winter wheat futures contract of more than 1,000 contracts in excess of the spot month speculative position limit established by the CFTC.
The CFTC’s investigation was conducted in conjunction with a related inquiry by the CME Group (CME), which today also announced a disciplinary action against Elephas. As noted in the CFTC Order, in determining its penalty, the CFTC recognised Elephas’ payment of USD166,590 to CME as part of the CME disciplinary action for the benefit Elephas received in reduced losses from liquidating its overage through the delivery process.
