CFTC News Release 4450-00 (CFTC Docket No. 00-33)

For Release September 25, 2000

CFTC FILES AND SETTLES ADMINISTRATIVE ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST MARTIN K. ROGERS FOR TRADING WITHOUT A SPONSOR IN VIOLATION OF A COMMISSION ORDER

Rogers' Registration Is Suspended for 30 Days and Restricted for One Year

WASHINGTON - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today the issuance of an order instituting and simultaneously settling an administrative proceeding against Martin K. Rogers of Oak Lawn, Illinois, for trading for approximately eight months without supervision by a qualified sponsor, as required by an order of the National Futures Association (NFA). In consenting to the order, Rogers neither admitted nor denied the findings in the order.

The CFTC order finds that on November 23, 1998, the NFA issued an order granting Rogers conditional registration for a two-year period, which was to terminate on November 23, 2000. The CFTC order also finds that pursuant to the NFA order, Rogers was required, among other conditions, to have his trading activities reviewed on a weekly basis by a qualified sponsor, who was to have executed a sponsorship statement. The CFTC order further finds that under the terms of the NFA order, if a sponsor ceased acting as Roger�s sponsor, Rogers was required to stop acting as a floor broker or floor trader until he had obtained a new qualified sponsor and a new sponsorship statement was executed. As the CFTC order finds, however, Rogers traded at the Chicago Board of Trade from approximately August 1999 through April 3, 2000 without a sponsor. The CFTC orders finds that pursuant to section 17(o)(2) of the CEA, the NFA order is considered to be an order issued by the Commission, and therefore, by trading for approximately eight months without a sponsor, Rogers violated a specific term of a Commission order, and violated section 6(c) of the CEA.

The CFTC order directs Rogers to cease and desist from further violations of the CEA as charged. The order also suspends Rogers' registration as a floor broker for 30 days and thereafter restricts his registration for one year, by, among other restrictions, requiring that his activities, whether he is trading for customers or for his own account, be subject to a sponsorship statement executed by a qualified sponsor.

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