The US Government seeks to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against John Patrick Gorman III, former U.S. dollar swaps trader and managing director of Nomura.
The relevant motion was filed on November 26, 2024, at the New York Southern District Court.
The United States of America, by and through the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, seeks to intervene, pursuant to Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The CFTC case arises out of allegations that Gorman engaged in a scheme to deceive and to manipulate the price of U.S. dollar interest rate swap spreads published on a screen displaying prices from a swap execution facility broker firm in the United States. Gorman allegedly engaged in this scheme to benefit the Bank in a separate interest rate swap transaction with a bond issuer.
The CFTC Complaint was filed on February 1, 2021. On November 22, 2024, Gorman filed a motion to require: i) the CFTC to produce certain material in the agency’s possession; and ii) to compel the CFTC to produce certain material in the possession of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The Government requests permission to intervene in the CFTC Case and thereafter file a brief addressing the defendant’s second request in the Motion.
In this case, Gorman seeks to compel the CFTC to produce materials solely within the possession of the Attorney. The Government’s interest in the enforcement of federal criminal law— including the scope of criminal discovery and control over its own investigative file—cannot be protected adequately by the existing parties in the CFTC Case, neither of whom is charged with investigating and enforcing federal criminal statutes.
