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Jeff Le Riche

Jeff counsels financial institutions, trading firms, and market participants across a broad range of asset classes, including futures, swaps, foreign currency, digital assets, commodities, and securities. He represents clients in civil and criminal government investigations and enforcement actions, internal investigations, litigation, and regulatory compliance matters.

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In a rare exercise of federal emergency authority, on July 14, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) did two things that, individually, would each be unusual and together are noteworthy: it stayed an emergency rule self-filed by a regulated exchange, and then affirmatively ordered that exchange to honor contracts it had already proposed to unwind. The target was KalshiEX LLC (Kalshi), a CFTC-designated contract market (DCM) for event contracts. The catalyst was a Michigan state court order that the CFTC determined raised questions of federal preemption under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the functioning of a federally regulated derivatives market.

Washington, D.C., USA- January13, 2020: Sign of The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at its headquarters in Washington, an agency of the US government.

Earlier this month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) eliminated its rule barring settlement with defendants who continued to deny the allegations against them. The move follows the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rescission of a parallel no-deny policy in May 2026, a development we noted previously, and signals an accelerating consensus shift between the two agencies on the terms of civil enforcement settlements.

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On June 10, 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking public comment on amendments to CFTC Regulation 40.11 and the addition of a new Appendix F to part 40, addressing event contracts, commonly traded on so-called “prediction markets.” The proposal would specify which event contracts may be subject to a determination that they are contrary to the public interest, set out the factors the Commission would apply, and add a definition of “gaming” together with a rule for when an event contract “involves” an underlying activity.

Washington, D.C., USA- January13, 2020: Sign of The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at its headquarters in Washington, an agency of the US government.

Amid recent high-profile incidents of suspicious activity on prediction markets, as well as pressure from Congress, the CFTC has signaled in unmistakable terms that prediction markets are squarely within its enforcement crosshairs and that it will use every tool at its disposal—including artificial intelligence surveillance.

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In April 2026, U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke was charged for allegedly profiting over $400,000 on bets placed on an offshore cryptocurrency-based prediction platform using classified information related to a military operation targeting former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The prosecution of Van Dyke reflected the government’s position that prediction markets are subject to the Commodity Exchange Act’s (CEA) anti-fraud and insider trading prohibitions.

Less than six weeks later, federal prosecutors have filed a second insider trading claim involving prediction markets–this time alleging use of confidential corporate data on Polymarket, the world’s largest online prediction marketplace.

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On May 19, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Enforcement (Division) issued CFTC Letter No. 26-15, a staff advisory establishing a comprehensive new policy on self-reporting, cooperation, and remediation. The policy creates clear incentives for proactive compliance and early disclosure of potential misconduct.

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The prediction market industry has spent the better part of two years arguing that event contracts are a legitimate, regulated, and economically valuable financial product—and, in important respects, that argument has prevailed. What the industry could not have anticipated is that its first landmark enforcement action involves not a rogue trader on Wall Street but an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant accused of leveraging classified intelligence about a covert military operation to pocket more than $400,000 on an offshore cryptocurrency-based prediction platform.

After years of regulatory uncertainty, the SEC and CFTC are moving toward a unified approach to digital asset oversight, launching a joint harmonization initiative to align definitions, streamline compliance, and reduce fragmentation. For crypto and financial services firms, this effort signals clearer pathways for product development and cross‑market operations—though lasting certainty will hinge on sustained…

On October 2, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas stayed Commodity Futures Trading Commission, et al. v. TMTE Inc., et al., a case with potentially consequential implications for the commodities and derivatives markets. As we discussed in our prior update, this $185 million fraud suit was filed against two California precious metals dealers by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and 30 state regulators. In July, the Court denied summary judgment to both parties. The most significant holding from that order was the finding that gold and silver are not commodities under Section 1 of the CFTC’s enacting statute, the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).

Washington, D.C., USA- January13, 2020: Sign of The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at its headquarters in Washington, an agency of the US government.

Within the Government Enforcement, Compliance & Investigations Report, we plan to bring you periodic updates from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In this first one, we are excited to announce a new addition to our team (and co-author of this post)—Jeff Le Riche. Jeff joins us after 20 years with the CFTC. We are thrilled to have him on board.

Now on to our updates from the CFTC.