ICE Futures US Announces Settlement of Charges Against Starfuels, Inc.
On February 21, 2024, a subcommittee of the Stock Exchange’s Business Conduct Commission (BCC) found that on several occasions from May 2021 to September 2022 (Relevant Period), Starfuels, Inc. may have violated Exchange ( A ) Rule 4.07(a)(ii) by failing to comply with the private trading requirement for certain transactions submitted to the Exchange. Specifically, for each of the block transactions, Starfuels received, negotiated and completed the block transactions earlier in the day for a price that was not known until later in the trading day (eg, closing price).
Once the price was set and made known, Starfuels failed to confirm the price with the parties and whether they were still willing to enter the trade.
The BCC further found that on several occasions during the relevant period Starfuels may have violated the following Exchange rules for certain block transactions: 4.07(c) by failing to submit to the Exchange the correct User ID and company name of the participant in market that made the transaction ? legacy 6.08(b)(i) by failing to comply with order ticket requirements; and 6.07(a)(iii) by failing to comply with general recordkeeping requirements.
Finally, the BCC determined that, during the relevant period, Starfuels may also have violated Rule 4.01(a) by failing to diligently supervise the block trading activities of its employees and Rule 4.01(b) by failing to establish, manage and impose supervisory authority systems, policies and procedures, which are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the Exchange Rules.
Under the terms of the settlement, in which Starfuels neither admitted nor denied the alleged rule violations, Starfuels agreed to pay a $110,000 monetary penalty.