CFTC Staff Letters

The CPO of a commodity pool operated pursuant to Regulation 4.7 requested relief from the audit requirement in Regulation 4.22(d) for the 2013 fiscal year, explained that the pool had ceased trading as of January 10, 2014, and provided waivers from the pool’s six participants, four of whom are principals or affiliates of the pool’s managing member. The Division granted relief, provided that the CPO distribute and file unaudited financial statements with NFA and provided that the final distribution of pool assets is completed within 14 days of the date of the relief letter.

Exemption permitting CPO to file a single Annual Report for the period from January 1, 2013 through the pool’s permanent cessation of trading on February 28, 2014.

Exemption from requirement that a pool’s financial statement be audited by independent public accountants.

Exemption from requirement that a pool’s financial statement be audited by independent public accountants.

Exemption from requirement that a pool’s financial statement be audited by independent public accountants.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted exemptive relief pursuant to Commission regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 to a commodity pool operator of three commodity pools that are organized as a three-level master-feeder structure that each operate pursuant to an exemption under Commission regulation 4.7 and began accepting subscriptions in December 2013 from the requirement to have an independent public accountant audit the financial statements in each commodity pool’s annual report for fiscal year 2013 pursuant to Commission regulation 4.22(d).

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted exemptive relief pursuant to Commission regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 to a commodity pool operator (the “CPO”) of a commodity pool operating pursuant to an exemption under Commission regulation 4.7 that has only two participants, both of which have discretionary investment authority over a portion of the commodity pool’s portfolio according to a plan establishing by the CPO’s control affiliate’s Chief Investment Officer and one of which is also a part owner of the CPO and its control affiliate, from the requirement to have an independent public accountant audit the financial statements in the commodity pool’s annual report for fiscal year 2013 pursuant to Commission regulation 4.22(d).

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted exemptive relief pursuant to Commission regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 to a commodity pool operator of two commodity pools operating pursuant to an exemption under Commission regulation 4.7 that began operations in July 2013 from the requirement to distribute an annual report to the participants of each commodity pool and to have the financial statements in each commodity pool’s annual report be audited by an independent public accountant pursuant to Commission regulations 4.7(b)(3) and 4.22(d) with respect to the annual report for fiscal year 2013.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted exemptive relief pursuant to Commission regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 to a commodity pool operator of a commodity pool operating pursuant to an exemption under Commission regulation 4.7 that undertook a significant change in its underlying strategy in 2013, subsequently gave its existing investors an opportunity to liquidate and suspended all fees beyond operational expenses, and began trading with the new models in the latter half of 2013, from the requirement to have an independent public accountant audit the financial statements in the commodity pool’s annual report for fiscal year 2013 pursuant to Commission regulation 4.22(d).

The operator of a commodity pool requested relief from the Annual Report filing and certification requirements in Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), or alternatively, relief allowing them to file a certified Annual Report covering the period from April 25, 2013, to December 31, 2014. Because the entity plans to request from the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight a determination that it is not a commodity pool, DSIO declined to grant the relief requested, as such relief would be conditioned on the future filing of an Annual Report in 2015, and instead granted exemptive relief from the certification requirement in Regulation 4.22(d), conditioned upon the CPO’s filing of an unaudited Annual Report for the 2013 fiscal year otherwise in compliance with Regulation 4.22(c).