Market manipulation enforcement actions filed in 2018

This library records 221 market manipulation enforcement actions filed in 2018, brought by CFTC, SEC.

Counts by year reflect when an action was filed or announced, not when the underlying conduct occurred — those are often years apart. Compare across years with care: a single multi-defendant sweep can dominate a year's count.

Actions: 21
Total penalties: $119m
Median penalty: $1.6m
Largest: $70m
Criminal parallel: 52%

Action	Agency	Filed	Technique	Penalty	Status
SEC v. Jonathan Strum, Esq. (reverse merger schemes, 2018)	SEC	2018-02-21	Reverse Merger Schemes , Undisclosed Control Blocks	—	judgment
SEC v. Eric McPhail, et al. (insider trading, 2018)	SEC	2018-02-20	Insider Trading	—	judgment
SEC v. Ara Chackerian (insider trading, 2018)	SEC	2018-02-12	Insider Trading	—	settled
SEC v. Geoffrey H. Lunn, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2018)	SEC	2018-02-12	Ponzi Schemes	—	judgment
SEC v. Andrew H. Wilson, Esq. (undisclosed control blocks, 2018)	SEC	2018-02-05	Unregistered Distributions	—	judgment
CFTC v. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (benchmark submission rigging, 2018)	CFTC	2018-02-01	Benchmark Submission Rigging , Price Manipulation	$70m	judgment
SEC v. Daniel T. Fischer (churning, 2018)	SEC	2018-01-30	Churning	—	judgment
CFTC v. Andre Flotron (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	—	filed
CFTC v. Deutsche Bank (price manipulation, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Price Manipulation , Spoofing	$30m	judgment
CFTC v. HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. Pay $1.6 Million Penalty (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	$1.6m	judgment
CFTC v. James Vorley and Cedric Chanu (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	—	filed
CFTC v. Jiongsheng Zhao (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	—	filed
CFTC v. Jitesh Thakkar and Edge Financial Technologies (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	—	filed
CFTC v. Three Banks (price manipulation, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Price Manipulation , Spoofing	$1.6m	judgment
CFTC v. Trader Krishna Mohan (spoofing, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Spoofing	—	filed
CFTC v. UBS (price manipulation, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-29	Price Manipulation , Spoofing	$15m	judgment
SEC v. One or More Unknown Traders in the Securities of Bioverativ, Inc. (insider trading, 2018)	SEC	2018-01-26	Insider Trading	—	judgment
CFTC v. Randall Crater (ponzi schemes, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-24	Ponzi Schemes	—	filed
SEC v. Ash Narayan, The Ticket Reserve Inc. a/k/a Forward Market Media, Inc., Richard M. Harmon, and John A. Kaptrosky (ponzi schemes, 2018)	SEC	2018-01-22	Ponzi Schemes	$325k	judgment
CFTC v. Colorado Resident Dillon Michael Dean and His Company (ponzi schemes, 2018)	CFTC	2018-01-19	Ponzi Schemes	—	filed
SEC v. David S. Haddad, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2018)	SEC	2018-01-11	Ponzi Schemes	$181k	judgment