CFTC News Release 4387-00 (CFTC Docket No. 00-08)

For Release March 31, 2000

CFTC FILES ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT AGAINST STEVEN C. BRENNER AND JAMI WEISNER BRENNER CHARGING BRENNER WITH VIOLATIONS OF A CFTC TRADING PROHIBITION AND OF A COMMISSION ORDER AND WEISNER WITH AIDING AND ABETTING THOSE VIOLATIONS

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that on March 30, 2000, it filed a two-count administrative complaint against Steven C. Brenner (Brenner) and his wife, Jami Weisner Brenner (Weisner), who reside in Highland Park, Illinois. The complaint alleges that Brenner violated Section 8b of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and a Commission order by trading commodity futures in violation of a ten-year trading prohibition imposed in 1990. Weisner is charged with aiding and abetting her husband�s violations.

Specifically, the CFTC complaint alleges the following: in 1990, an Administrative Law Judge of the CFTC issued an order banning Brenner from trading on CFTC-regulated exchanges for ten years and ordered him to pay a civil monetary penalty in the amount of $10,000 (CFTC Order). Between 1990 and 1992, despite the trading ban, Brenner traded commodity futures contracts. After the Commission brought an injunctive action against Brenner, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1992 entered a consent order of permanent injunction, which prohibited Brenner from trading in violation of the CFTC Order. Between 1992 and 1994, Brenner again traded futures contracts in violation of the trading prohibition, and Brenner was prosecuted criminally for trading futures contracts in violation of the order of permanent injunction. He pled guilty and was sentenced to weekend detention for one month and two years of probation.

The CFTC complaint further alleges that from January 1995 until October 1999, Brenner again traded on CFTC-regulated exchanges. As the complaint charges, by trading on CFTC-regulated exchanges from January 1995 until October 1999, Brenner violated Section 8b of the CEA, which prohibits trading on CFTC-regulated exchanges by any person against whom there is an outstanding order of the CFTC prohibiting such trading and violated the CFTC order. The complaint also charges Weisner with aiding and abetting her husband�s violations, pursuant to Section 13(a) of the CEA, by, among other things, opening commodity futures accounts in her name to facilitate Brenner's trading.

A public hearing has been ordered to determine whether the allegations are true, and, if so, what sanctions are appropriate in the public interest.

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