WASHINGTON, May 6, 2026 — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday it ordered Sidney Lebental, a trader who resided in New York, to pay a $200,000 civil monetary penalty and imposed a one-month trading ban to resolve spoofing charges tied to Treasury futures trading, according to a statement.
The order said Lebental engaged in spoofing on approximately 50 occasions between January and September 2019 while trading Treasury futures, primarily the Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade, an exchange operated by CME Group.
Enforcement action and penalties
Under the order, Lebental must pay the civil monetary penalty within 10 days, cease and desist from violating the spoofing prohibition under the Commodity Exchange Act, and is prohibited for one month from trading or participating in commodity-interest activities.
The CFTC said all registered entities must refuse Lebental trading privileges during the restriction period.
The regulator said Lebental neither admitted nor denied the findings as part of the settlement.
Trading conduct and spoofing allegations
According to the order, Lebental placed genuine orders for cash Treasuries or Treasury futures contracts on one side of the market while simultaneously entering spoof orders in correlated Treasury futures contracts on the opposite side of the market that he intended to cancel before execution.
The order said the activity frequently involved the Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond futures contract, commonly referred to as UB, alongside correlated 30-year maturity cash Treasuries.
The CFTC said Lebental canceled the spoof orders after his genuine orders were fully or partially filled.
The order said the spoof orders were intended to send false signals of supply or demand to influence market participants and induce executions against the genuine orders.
Legal framework
The CFTC said the conduct violated Section 4c(a)(5)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act, which prohibits spoofing, defined as bidding or offering with the intent to cancel before execution.
The order cited prior spoofing enforcement jurisprudence, including the Seventh Circuit’s decision in United States v. Coscia and the federal court decision in CFTC v. Skudder.
According to the order, Lebental was employed during the relevant period as head of the linear rates desk in the New York office of a global financial institution and had never been registered with the CFTC in any capacity.
