The CFTC charged Carmine Garofalo, an Italian citizen, with options fraud, engaging in fictitious transactions and trading noncompetitively in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. Garofalo has never been registered with the CFTC.

The CFTC complaint alleges that on March 5, 2010, Garofalo engaged in a series of unlawful commodity options transactions involving E-mini S&P 500 and Euro/U.S. Dollar European Style Premium option contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Garofalo allegedly fraudulently accessed an account of a Luxemborg-based investment fund and, without permission, executed trades to the investment fund’s detriment. Through this allegedly unlawful scheme, Garofalo repeatedly made non-competitive, fictitious trades between his personal account and an account of the investment fund. As a result, Garofalo’s personal account profited by more than $614,000 through the illegal scheme, while the investment fund’s account lost a corresponding amount, according to the CFTC complaint.