Cameron Charles, former manager of Watseka Farmers Grain Co. Cooperative, was fined $100,000 and permanently barred from commodity futures trading by the CFTC.

Today, the CFTC announced the result of the lawsuit, which was filed June 23, 2005. The CFTC alleged that Charles defrauded his employer, Watseka Farmers Grain Co., by engaging in unauthorized and illegal speculative trading on its behalf, and that Charles accepted and processed futures trades for individuals through Watseka’s trading account without proper registration with the CFTC.

Watseka was a small grain elevator formed by local farmers to market their corn and soybean crops. As Watseka’s manager, Charles’ responsibilities included hedging Watseka’s grain positions on the futures market and reporting such positions to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

From at least January 2004 through May 2004, Charles caused Watseka to accumulate a large, unauthorized, speculative position in the soybean futures market, which he concealed from Watseka’s Board of Directors and the Illinois Department of Agriculture by falsifying Watseka’s records. In mid-May 2004, the soybean futures market declined sharply and Watseka received margin calls that it could not meet, forcing the co-op into liquidation. Watseka closed on May 24, 2004.

Charles also accepted orders for futures transactions from local farmers and executed these transactions through Watseka’s futures trading account without being registered with the CFTC to handle those transactions.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members are responsible for this case: Mark Bretscher, William Janulis, Merle Hampton, Scott Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard Wagner.