Federal regulators fine Kansas City energy trader $1.2 million

A Kansas City man was ordered Tuesday to pay a $1.2 million penalty in connection with unauthorized trading in energy markets.

The defendant, Gregory Christopher Evans, worked on the Kansas City energy desk of FCStone during the time federal regulators said he executed unauthorized swap transactions for a customer’s account.

Braden M. Perry, an attorney who represented Evans, declined to comment.

U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith in Kansas City ordered the payment on findings that Evans carried out the transactions as a way to hide losses he had generated for one client and to “bolster his own compensation” through commissions.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission outlined the charges in a 2014 complaint. It said Evans’ trading strategy for one client had become increasingly unprofitable in the spring of 2013.

Evans, in an effort to hide the mounting losses, “took what would have been 30 losing transactions” for that customer and “executed those losing transactions” on behalf of another customer, the agency’s complaint said. The second customer suffered the $1.2 million loss.

The commission’s complaint said the customer with the $1.2 million loss had been reimbursed by FCStone, which also covered some of the first customer’s losses.

The order bars Evans from registering with the trading commission and from engaging in any commodity-related activity, the federal agency said.

Evans consented to the court order without admitting or denying the charges. The order, however, prohibits him from making any public denial.

This story was originally published June 16, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Federal regulators fine Kansas City energy trader $1.2 million."