November 5, 2010

Once on Sleepy Beat, Regulator Is Suddenly Busy

By Julie Creswell and Graham Bowley

Maybe too hot. At a time when prices of many commodities are soaring — cotton has jumped 95 percent in the last 12 months, silver 43 percent — alarms are going off inside the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington.

Long dismissed as a lackadaisical regulator, the commission is suddenly on the move. Indeed, it is busier than ever: It opened a record 419 investigations over the last year, into things as diverse as small-time Ponzi schemes and claims of market manipulation.

It is a remarkable turnabout for the agency, which not long ago seemed on the brink of extinction. Its chairman, Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive, has surprised some of his former Wall Street colleagues by flexing his agency’s muscles...

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Last Updated: November 5, 2010