- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2023-03-09T17:43:00
A Texas-based energy broker, its owners, and trading affiliates agreed to pay a total of nearly $3 million to resolve allegations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the firm failed in its oversight responsibilities regarding more than 2,000 trades made against its customers.
The CFTC sued Coquest; two of its owners, including President and Compliance Officer John Vassallo; and two affiliates in October 2021 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Coquest was faulted for defrauding its customers and failing to diligently supervise customer commodity interest accounts, the agency stated Wednesday in a press release.
Coquest, Vassallo, fellow owner Dennis Weinmann, and affiliates Buttonwood and Weva Properties agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty and $496,021 in disgorgement to settle the charges. The CFTC also imposed a six-month trading and registration ban on Weinmann and banned Weinmann and Coquest from brokering block trades on behalf of other people for two years.
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