Crypto & Politics: Insights from Former Congressman David McIntosh
Podcast - Cracking Down on Carbon Markets: CFTC and FTC Exercise Heightened Scrutiny
How Technology Has Transformed Today’s Agriculture Commodities Market
Risky Business: Effective Commodity Risk Management
A Discussion on Environmental Commodities with Bill Flederbach, President and CEO at ClimeCo
JONES DAY TALKS®: CFTC and DOJ Target Derivatives Trading Across Industries
A Look Ahead at the Biden Administration’s Regulatory and Enforcement Priorities
Path Forward: Borrowing Base Redeterminations In A Restructuring World
Episode 3 - The Freeman Law Project - Cryptocurrency Regulation and Taxation: A Brief Primer
Regulation 2013: Dodd-Frank Position Limits, CFTC Reuthorization, Regulatory Harmonization
On July 21, 2025, a U.S. district court judge in Texas stated in an opinion and order that “section 1 [of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”)] does not encompass precious metals [such as gold] as commodities because they are...more
A recent ruling by a Texas federal court adopts a narrow, textually driven reading of the Commodity Exchange Act, questioning whether gold and silver bullion are “commodities” within the statute’s scope....more
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week....more
On April 17, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ("CFTC") operating divisions ("Divisions") provided guidance in an advisory on the criteria they will use when determining whether to refer self-reported...more
In recent months, numerous online commodity trading markets have begun to offer sports-based event contracts concerning the outcome of various sporting events. These event contracts—which are a type of derivative...more
In a break from the typical acting agency chairman, Acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") Chairman Caroline Pham has taken several significant actions, signaled several more, and set the agency on a path to...more
This periodic bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets. While the use cases for blockchain...more
Although Congress has neither formulated a regulatory framework for the digital asset industry nor anointed a federal regulatory agency as the de facto overseer of digital asset-related activities affecting interstate...more
On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that trading giant Trafigura had agreed to pay a $55 million fine to settle charges of fraud and manipulation. The conduct at issue allegedly...more
The Justice Department is rightly trumpeting its successful sweep of the commodities trading industry. DOJ’s success is reflected in its six separate corporate resolutions and 20 individual convictions, resulting in over...more
On the heels of the Gunvor FCPA settlement for $661 million, DOJ announced its settlement with Trafigura, the latest commodities trading company to fall under DOJ’s FCPA Sweep against the industry. Trafigura joined the list...more
On March 26, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a complaint (the “Complaint”) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) for injunctive and other relief against...more
At an industry event in early 2023, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or the Commission) Chairman Rostin Behnam set out a comprehensive agenda to include nearly three dozen rulemaking proposals as well as “business...more
The Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement record for 2024 was slow. This trend was unexpected, contrary to my own predictions and of various other prognosticators. It is hard to explain why this slowdown occurred....more
Emphasizing its broad authority over fraud solely in connection with commodities – not just fraud in connection with derivatives referencing commodities – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission settled an enforcement action...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) released its enforcement results for fiscal year 2023 on November 7, 2023. The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement filed 96 enforcement actions in 2023 charging a range...more
On October 17, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement released an advisory instruction to CFTC staff for future enforcement actions. The advisory provided guidance on the following: (i) whether...more
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently settled enforcement actions against operators of three decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols (i.e., collections of smart contracts on blockchains that offer...more
On September 7, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the settlement of three separate enforcement actions in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space: namely, concerning the Opyn protocol and its...more
On August 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered a consent order ("Order") and imposed sanctions on Barelt Media and its owner Ryan Masten for operating an unregistered commodity trading...more
On July 13, 2023, U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Alexander Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of beleaguered Celsius Network LLC (“Celsius”) charging him with securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire...more
Last week, the CFTC solicited whistleblowers in connection with "potential [] fraud and manipulation" in "voluntary carbon markets," particularly in circumstances "in which high-quality carbon credits, also known as carbon...more
Join Braumiller Law Group Senior Counsel Bruce Leeds for a discussion on the topic of: ITAR 101-Part 2* New to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)? Or, maybe you're just a little bit rusty on the ITAR? Here...more
A decentralized autonomous organization is an unincorporated association under California and federal law that is liable for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading...more
On March 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the U.S. derivatives regulator, charged three Binance entities (collectively “Binance”) and its founder and chief compliance officer (“CCO”) with numerous...more