CME Group has posted a notice of disciplinary action against Alex Chaia.

Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Alex Chaia neither admitted nor denied the rule violations upon which the penalty is based, a Panel of the NYMEX Business Conduct Committee (BCC Panel) found that on April 20, 2020, Chaia prearranged the execution of round-turn transactions in various options on Crude Oil futures between an account he traded for his customer and an account owned by another individual for the purpose of transferring equity between these accounts.

The Panel found that as a result of the foregoing, Chaia violated Rule 432.G. This rule states:

It shall be an offense:

G. To prearrange the execution of transactions in Exchange products for the purpose of transferring equity between accounts.

In accordance with the settlement offer, the BCC Panel ordered Chaia to pay a $25,000 fine and serve a 10 business day suspension from access to any trading floor owned or controlled by CME Group and from direct and indirect access to any designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization or swap execution facility owned or controlled by CME Group.

The suspension shall run from August 2, 2021 through August 13, 2021, inclusive.