Since our election, we have continued standing up for the industry, especially for CTAs and CPOs that struggle to deal with ever increasing and changing regulation. If you deem us worthy of second terms, we will continue to work hard to balance customer protections with regulatory efficiency and reduce unnecessary or burdensome regulations that benefit no one.
Blog
-
Do You Own the Worst Investment in the Stock Market?
“At a recent industry event, Koutoulas gave a detailed presentation on the pitfalls of certain ETFs. For example, between October of 2008 and June of 2010 the price of crude oil futures almost quadrupled, yet the ETF for oil, USO, stayed basically flat due to the cost of rolling the contracts.”
-
Interview with James Koutoulas
“James Koutoulas, the tireless champion of futures customers harmed in the MF Global implosion, and one of our CTA representatives on NFA’s board of directors, was one of the first people who signed the “Just Say No” petition regarding NFA’s recent idea to impose capital requirements on CTAs.”
-
CCC still waiting on prosecution
Futures Magazine
James Koutoulas, co-founder of the Commodity Customer Coalition (CCC), says, “While MF Global was one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the futures industry, I’m elated that after two-and-a-half years customers are finally going to be made whole.” -
MF Global Customers to Be Paid Back in Full
New York Times
“It’s been a two-and-a-half-year roller coaster ride for 38,000 customers,” said James L. Koutoulas, a Chicago hedge fund manager and lawyer who became a voice for MF Global customers whose money disappeared. “But it’s a great feeling that they have been made whole – at last.” -
The Hero of MF Global’s High-Noon James Koutoulas Wins Big for Little Guys
But Koutoulas is incensed by a CFTC proposal to beef up customer protection by requiring those who trade on margin to post 20% of their positions, up from 10% now. The rule’s intent is to protect customers from the risk that other customers won’t make good on their margin calls. Perhaps, Koutoulas says, the 20% rule should be enforced on high-frequency traders, who “in a couple of minutes, with a rogue algorithm, can blow up an FCM,” but not on farmers and other retail customers, who are being asked to “double down” on the money they have at risk at FCMs.
-
MF Global White Knight James Koutoulas, Still Fighting
Two years ago MF Global blew up taking down $1.6 billion of customer money. In this “Santelli Exchange Extra,” CNBC’s Rick Santelli talks with James Koutoulas, the man who successfully led the battle to reclaim those lost funds.
-
MF Global Repayments Near
The Wall Street Journal
“It’s horrible the customers had to endure being deprived of their property,” said James Koutoulas, president of Commodity Customer Coalition, a group representing customers of commodities brokers. “But it’s great…to put it behind them.” -
Bancorp sued over ‘Midwest Madoff’ brokerage accounts
Reuters
James Koutoulas, a lawyer and money manager, who co-founded the Commodity Customer Coalition to advocate for former MF Global and Peregrine customers offered cautious optimism on the CFTC suit on Wednesday. “It’s really the first ray of hope that we’ve seen for a while, and it’s a good one,” Koutoulas said of the complaint, describing the CFTC’s case as “pretty damning.” -
Independent counsel sought for MF Global Probe
Chicago Tribune
A U.S. congressman is pressing for the appointment of an independent counsel to take over a federal criminal probe into the collapse of the MF Global Holdings Ltd brokerage firm. Michael Grimm, a first-term Republican congressman from New York City and member of the House Financial Services Committee, has circulated to colleagues a proposed letter that would ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to step aside.