On August 22, 2016, CME Group’s Market Regulation Department (“Market Regulation”), through its Chief Regulatory Officer, summarily denied Andrey Sakharov (“Sakharov”) direct and indirect access to all CME Group markets by any member or member firm and any non-member firm introducing business to a member firm, including the CME Globex electronic trading platform (“Globex”), any other electronic trading or clearing platform owned or controlled by CME Group, and all trading floors owned or controlled by CME Group. The summary access denial prohibits Sakharov and/or any accounts in which he has ownership or control over from trading, placing orders, and controlling or directing the trading for any person, entity, or account in any CME Group exchange product.
CME Group’s Chief Regulatory Officer’s summary access denial of Sakharov was based upon a Market Regulation Department investigation, which revealed that on multiple dates beginning on July 1, 2016, Sakharov entered orders on Globex that he did not intend to trade at the time of his order entry. Specifically, Sakharov, while trading an account held in another’s name and without an executed power of attorney, repeatedly placed single orders for small quantities on one side of the August 2016 Gold and Natural Gas futures markets, followed by single orders for large quantities on the opposite side of these markets. Generally, less than 100 milliseconds thereafter, the small-quantity orders traded and the large-quantity orders were canceled.
