The recently revived administrative proceedings against former “FX Cartel” traders Richard Usher and Rohan Ramchandani, have prompted the duo to prepare for what’s coming. According to a letter filed with the New York Southern District Court on January 25, 2021, Usher is trying to get more time for this preparation, as the volume of documents he has to go through is ballooning.

Usher, former Head of G10 Spot Trading at JPMorgan Chase Bank, was acquitted of charges of manipulating the Forex spot market in a criminal case brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ). But he and Ramchandani are now facing new challenges related to the events that led to the criminal proceedings against them, as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is targeting them in administrative proceedings.

A part of Usher’s efforts, as indicated in the letter filed with the Court on January 25, 2021, is focused on identification of documents relating to issues that are newly presented in the OCC matter. More specifically, the OCC is building its case around a series of trading episodes, and a number of those episodes were not featured in the criminal trial.

The discovery of such documents has been more time-consuming that initially anticipated, Usher claims.

“We have found approximately 275,000 records that appear to reflect trading and communications contemporaneous to those episodes”, Usher explains, adding that at least two more months would be needed in order for the defense to identify all documents that it would rely upon before the OCC.

Let’s recall that, in August 2020, the OCC issued notices against Usher and Ramchandani. The notices said that hearings will commence so as to determine whether Orders should be issued against Ramchandani, the former Head of European Foreign Exchange Spot Trading at Citibank, and Richard Usher, the former Head of EMEA Foreign Exchange Spot Trading at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., prohibiting the respondents from participating in any manner in the conduct of the affairs of any federally insured depository institution or any other institution, credit union, agency or entity referred to in 12 U.S.C. § 1818(e), and requiring respondents to pay a civil money penalty.

Several days after the notices were filed by the OCC, Usher and Ramchandani filed a request with the New York Southern District Court for a modification of the Court’s protective order in the criminal proceedings (the ones launched by the DOJ) against them.

Thus far, efforts by the former “FX Cartel” traders have not brought the desired results for them. In fact, the DOJ has firmly opposed all efforts by the defendants to use the documents from the criminal case in the proceedings brought by the OCC.

In his latest letter to the Court, Usher says he has asked the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division to reconsider DOJ’s opposition to any amendment to the protective order.