Lawrence I. Fejokwu v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, under 7 U.S.C. § 21, has delegated limited powers to the National Futures Association. The NFA is a non­ governmental, industry-operated, self-regulatory organization. According to the NFA, Mr. Fejokwu “willfully violated” NFA Rule 2—5: Cooperation in NFA Investigations and Proceedings. NFA alleges Fejokwu’s “willful” violation arose by his "willfully" failing to fully cooperate with an NFA investigation because although he otherwise fully cooperated and acted in good-faith, he "willfully" questioned, and "willfully" sought clarification regarding the relevance of one document among scores that NFA requested him to produce. NFA permanently barred Fejokwu from the commodities industry and by extension the entire finance industry — not just in the USA but worldwide. CFTC rubber-stamped the draconian penalty and the Third Circuit affirmed. There is a large circuit split on the issue of illogical coexistence of “willfulness” and good-faith and this especially justifies this Court’s urgent resolution. Additionally, this case exceptionally cries for this Court’s intervention given that these issues affect theoretically millions of entities — across numerous industries — regulated by government agencies and their private delegates. Further adding to the exceptional importance of the issues coalesced in this case, is the fact that the significant adverse effects of these issues on regulatees domiciled in the USA painfully reverberates for these individuals not just in the USA but globally.