The CFTC has charged a former natural gas trader for fraudulently mis-marking physical and futures natural gas trades, as announced in this press release.

David Smothermon is alleged to have engaged in a multifaceted scheme that, among other things, involved causing false and deceptive entries in the company’s internal record-keeping system to exaggerate the value of the company’s positions in futures contracts and various physical natural gas trades, thereby disguising the true scope of his trading losses.