On this episode of the inSecurities podcast, Chris and Kurt tackle commodities enforcement. Jamie McDonald, a Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and a former Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Avi Perry, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and a former Chief of the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit in the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, offer their perspectives on civil and criminal commodities investigations and enforcement. Jamie and Avi explain how they helped shape the CFTC and DOJ enforcement programs, how the agencies coordinate on enforcement matters, and what counts among the current commodities enforcement priorities for the CFTC and DOJ.

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Featured in this Episode

Avi Perry

Avi Perry, a distinguished former federal prosecutor, is a high-stakes trial lawyer, co-Chair of the Firm’s Securities Litigation Group, and co-Chair of the Firm’s Commodities and Derivatives Group. Mr. Perry also is a member of the Firm’s Investigations, Government Enforcement and White Collar Criminal Defense Group.

Mr. Perry’s practice focuses on defending companies and individuals under investigation by federal and state law enforcement authorities and regulators across the United States, counseling financial services businesses, funds, and trading firms on U.S. securities and commodities laws, and providing advice on the design and implementation of effective corporate compliance programs.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Perry served for nine years as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, most recently as Chief of the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. In that role, Mr. Perry supervised 45 white collar prosecutors nationwide and oversaw all of the Fraud Section’s corporate and individual investigations and prosecutions involving securities, commodities, digital assets, and government procurement fraud.

Mr. Perry is a nationally recognized leader in securities, commodities, and derivatives law. Mr. Perry built the Fraud Section’s criminal commodities and derivatives enforcement program, spearheading prosecutions involving spoofing in the futures markets, benchmark price manipulation, cross-market manipulation, and the first-ever commodities insider trading charges under Rule 180.1 of the Commodity Exchange Act. Mr. Perry also oversaw some of the Department’s most significant securities matters, including short-selling investigations and the first prosecution of insider trading under a Rule 10b5-1 executive trading plan.

At the Department, Mr. Perry successfully prosecuted 12 bankers at global financial institutions, including the high-profile trial convictions of seven Managing Directors and Executive Directors at JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley. He also led seven corporate resolutions with banks and trading firms totaling over $1.5 billion in fines, forfeiture, and restitution, and he oversaw three independent compliance monitorships. Mr. Perry has significant experience with the design, implementation, and testing of effective corporate compliance programs, including the use of trade surveillance software and data analytics to identify irregularities.

Mr. Perry served as a member of the Deputy Attorney General’s Corporate Crime Advisory Group and helped to draft the 2022 revisions to the Department’s Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies and the 2023 revisions to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy.

Mr. Perry speaks regularly at conference on white collar matters, including digital assets, derivatives, and enforcement trends. He has served as adjunct faculty at Yale Law School and the University of Maine Law School. Prior to joining the Department, he worked as an associate at a law firm in New York and clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the Honorable Mark L. Wolf, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Jamie McDonald

James M. McDonald is a litigation partner and a member of the Firm’s Securities & Commodities Investigations Practice and its Commodities, Futures and Derivatives group. His practice focuses on advising clients on regulatory enforcement matters, white-collar criminal matters, and internal investigations, as well as on regulatory and corporate governance matters related to the securities and commodities laws. In addition, he has represented entities and individuals across the cryptocurrency ecosystem in government investigations, civil litigation, and regulatory matters.

The Commodities Enforcement Landscape:

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Featured in this Episode

Avi Perry

Jamie McDonald