CFTC Enforcement Director Miller Outlines Five Priorities at NYU Speech

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On March 31, 2026, David I. Miller, newly appointed Director of the CFTC's Division of Enforcement, delivered remarks at NYU Law School's Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, announcing five key enforcement priorities: (1) insider trading (including tipping and trading on misappropriated information, especially in prediction markets), (2) market manipulation (with emphasis on energy markets due to consumer harm and inflationary risks), (3) market abuse and disruptive trading (e.g., spoofing, wash trading), (4) retail fraud (e.g., Ponzi schemes, commodity pool frauds), and (5) willful violations of anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) rules.[1][2][4][5][6]

Miller, a former litigation partner at Morgan Lewis and Greenberg Traurig who returned to public service earlier in March 2026, emphasized under CFTC Chairman Michael Selig's leadership that the "era of regulation by enforcement is over," shifting focus to policing fraud, abuse, and manipulation while hiring staff to bolster enforcement after a decline in cases since early 2025.[1][2][4][5] He asserted CFTC jurisdiction over event and prediction markets via existing Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) anti-fraud provisions, urged exchanges as first-line defenders against manipulation, and highlighted a recent CFTC-Major League Baseball MOU to protect sports event contracts.[1][2][3][5][6] Miller also previewed a forthcoming staff advisory on cooperation, offering a "clear path" to declination for timely self-reporting, full cooperation, and remediation—even if CFTC already knew of the conduct—absent aggravating factors like recidivism or senior management involvement, replacing a 2025 advisory.[1][2][4][6]

This event marks the clearest signal of ramped-up CFTC activity after low enforcement in the prior year, amid staff attrition now being addressed through hiring, making it newsworthy as markets brace for aggressive pursuit of harmful conduct in derivatives, prediction markets, and energy sectors.[1][2][4]

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