Delta into (and out of?) refinery business
Jun 13, 2016, 6:39 pm
#286
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta SM
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cm...-idUSKCN0YZ2C3
Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:15pm EDT
Former Delta Air fuel executive, wife banned from CME markets
CHICAGO | By Tom Polansek
CME Group on Monday banned a former Delta Air Lines fuel executive for using accounts owned by his wife to front-run trades subsequently entered in an account controlled by the carrier and for breaking other exchange rules.
The futures exchange operator also banned the executive's wife for taking part in the scheme.
The couple, Jon and Ivonne Ruggles, could not immediately be reached for comment.
In addition to the lifetime bans, the exchange operator ordered Jon Ruggles to disgorge profits of $2.8 million and pay a $300,000 fine.
Jon Ruggles worked for Delta, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, from early 2011 to December 2012, according to the airline. It said he was a vice president of fuel management.
CME, in a disciplinary notice, said he "repeatedly abused his trading discretion given to him by his employer for personal gain" from April 2012 to December 2012.
During that time, he intentionally traded his employer's account opposite two personal accounts owned by his wife "to obtain a favorable execution price for Ivonne’s orders in blatant violation of exchange rules," according to the notice.
CME rules prohibit traders from executing an order for their own benefit while in possession of an order from someone else for a transaction in the same market. The company also bars traders from disclosing other people's orders to anyone aside from designated regulatory officials.
According to the disciplinary notice, the chief financial officer of Ruggles' employer said in an affidavit that he violated company policies prohibiting employees from using information on its commodity trades to benefit anyone other than the company. The notice did not identify the employer.
The company considers such information to be confidential and proprietary, the notice said.
“Delta has the highest standards of ethics and expects all of its employees to maintain those standards," company spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
CME, which owns the New York Mercantile Exchange and other markets, said it requested that the couple appear for interviews and both declined through legal counsel.
Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:15pm EDT
Former Delta Air fuel executive, wife banned from CME markets
CHICAGO | By Tom Polansek
CME Group on Monday banned a former Delta Air Lines fuel executive for using accounts owned by his wife to front-run trades subsequently entered in an account controlled by the carrier and for breaking other exchange rules.
The futures exchange operator also banned the executive's wife for taking part in the scheme.
The couple, Jon and Ivonne Ruggles, could not immediately be reached for comment.
In addition to the lifetime bans, the exchange operator ordered Jon Ruggles to disgorge profits of $2.8 million and pay a $300,000 fine.
Jon Ruggles worked for Delta, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, from early 2011 to December 2012, according to the airline. It said he was a vice president of fuel management.
CME, in a disciplinary notice, said he "repeatedly abused his trading discretion given to him by his employer for personal gain" from April 2012 to December 2012.
During that time, he intentionally traded his employer's account opposite two personal accounts owned by his wife "to obtain a favorable execution price for Ivonne’s orders in blatant violation of exchange rules," according to the notice.
CME rules prohibit traders from executing an order for their own benefit while in possession of an order from someone else for a transaction in the same market. The company also bars traders from disclosing other people's orders to anyone aside from designated regulatory officials.
According to the disciplinary notice, the chief financial officer of Ruggles' employer said in an affidavit that he violated company policies prohibiting employees from using information on its commodity trades to benefit anyone other than the company. The notice did not identify the employer.
The company considers such information to be confidential and proprietary, the notice said.
“Delta has the highest standards of ethics and expects all of its employees to maintain those standards," company spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
CME, which owns the New York Mercantile Exchange and other markets, said it requested that the couple appear for interviews and both declined through legal counsel.
Jun 14, 2016, 2:55 am
#288
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It's nice to know a company actually took action and did something. Most companies they would have let the employee go and swept it under the rug.
Jun 14, 2016, 8:23 am
#289
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cm...-idUSKCN0YZ2C3
Jon Ruggles worked for Delta, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, from early 2011 to December 2012, according to the airline. It said he was a vice president of fuel management.
Jon Ruggles worked for Delta, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, from early 2011 to December 2012, according to the airline. It said he was a vice president of fuel management.
Despite his early success, Ruggles was in other ways off to a very bad start. Trey Griggs, a senior salesman at Goldman Sachs, which was one of Delta’s primary brokerage firms, called Ruggles shortly after he initiated the heating oil trade. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked. Griggs wanted to know why the airline would possibly want to reserve the right to sell a commodity like heating oil, which seemed like a trade pretty far afield from Delta’s core needs. “From day one,” says a Goldman employee briefed on Delta’s trades at the time, “everybody in the industry thought he was a lunatic.”
Yet despite the turmoil at Delta, he had side projects — including his personal trading account, where for years he had traded contracts on crude, heating oil, and several other high-volume energy commodities in an account registered under his wife’s name. Since Ivonne, who had changed her surname to Ruggles, handled all their finances anyway, using her name seemed a natural step.
Personal trading was common in commodities markets, but not among corporate employees. Some companies, perhaps not thinking ahead about the nature of the work their hedgers performed, didn’t explicitly forbid it. And Ruggles’ personal trading activities had escaped notice at Bank of America while he was there, perhaps because his role was one that didn’t directly involve investing client money.
Late in 2012, however, Delta received a subpoena from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asking for trading records pertaining to either personal or corporate trading in which Ruggles had engaged. The company itself was apparently not a target. But its head of fuel was.
Personal trading was common in commodities markets, but not among corporate employees. Some companies, perhaps not thinking ahead about the nature of the work their hedgers performed, didn’t explicitly forbid it. And Ruggles’ personal trading activities had escaped notice at Bank of America while he was there, perhaps because his role was one that didn’t directly involve investing client money.
Late in 2012, however, Delta received a subpoena from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asking for trading records pertaining to either personal or corporate trading in which Ruggles had engaged. The company itself was apparently not a target. But its head of fuel was.
Sep 29, 2016, 1:09 pm
#290
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta SM
Posts: 105
Jon Ruggles to pay $5.25 million for fraudulent trading
By Tomi Kilgore
Published: Sept 29, 2016 2:33 p.m. ET
The U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission said Thursday that it has ordered Jon Ruggles, a former jet-fuel trader at Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, +0.10% to give back $3.5 million in trading profits and pay a $1.75 million penalty. The order was part of a settlement of charges against Ruggles for making fraudulent, fictitious and noncompetitive trades in the crude oil ad heating oil futures and options, and gasoline futures, from March 2012 and December 2012. Ruggles is also permanently banned from registering with the CFTC. Ruggles, who was responsible for developing fuel-hedging strategies for Delta, then executing the trades, was found to trade the same products he traded for his employer in personal accounts in his wife's name, which he controlled. "The misappropriation of confidential, nonpublic information is fraud under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations and undermines the integrity of the derivatives market," said CFTC Director of Enforcement Aitan Goelman in a statement.
By Tomi Kilgore
Published: Sept 29, 2016 2:33 p.m. ET
The U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission said Thursday that it has ordered Jon Ruggles, a former jet-fuel trader at Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, +0.10% to give back $3.5 million in trading profits and pay a $1.75 million penalty. The order was part of a settlement of charges against Ruggles for making fraudulent, fictitious and noncompetitive trades in the crude oil ad heating oil futures and options, and gasoline futures, from March 2012 and December 2012. Ruggles is also permanently banned from registering with the CFTC. Ruggles, who was responsible for developing fuel-hedging strategies for Delta, then executing the trades, was found to trade the same products he traded for his employer in personal accounts in his wife's name, which he controlled. "The misappropriation of confidential, nonpublic information is fraud under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations and undermines the integrity of the derivatives market," said CFTC Director of Enforcement Aitan Goelman in a statement.
Dec 2, 2016, 4:53 pm
#291
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: NYC
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Posts: 105
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN13R2F3
Delta Air to sell gasoline and diesel as losses at its refinery climb
Delta Air Lines Inc is preparing to market gasoline from a refinery it owns outside Philadelphia, signaling a shift in strategy toward managing the plant as a commercial refiner rather than a dedicated jet fuel supplier.
Delta became the first airline to own a refinery when it bought the shuttered plant in 2012, hoping to turn the facility into its own jet fuel supplier and capitalize on cheap oil supplies from a boom in U.S. shale output.
Instead of marketing the gasoline and diesel from the 185,000 barrels per day Monroe Energy plant, until now Delta has swapped the billions of dollars of motor fuel for jet fuel under a contract with Phillips 66 that is set to expire next year.
Now, Monroe is ramping up to sell small volumes of blended gasoline and ultimately diesel at a distribution center owned by Sunoco Logistics Partners outside Philadelphia, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters.
snip
Delta Air to sell gasoline and diesel as losses at its refinery climb
Delta Air Lines Inc is preparing to market gasoline from a refinery it owns outside Philadelphia, signaling a shift in strategy toward managing the plant as a commercial refiner rather than a dedicated jet fuel supplier.
Delta became the first airline to own a refinery when it bought the shuttered plant in 2012, hoping to turn the facility into its own jet fuel supplier and capitalize on cheap oil supplies from a boom in U.S. shale output.
Instead of marketing the gasoline and diesel from the 185,000 barrels per day Monroe Energy plant, until now Delta has swapped the billions of dollars of motor fuel for jet fuel under a contract with Phillips 66 that is set to expire next year.
Now, Monroe is ramping up to sell small volumes of blended gasoline and ultimately diesel at a distribution center owned by Sunoco Logistics Partners outside Philadelphia, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters.
snip
Dec 2, 2016, 5:19 pm
#292
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The refinery was always going to have gasoline and diesel to sell - there's no way to turn a barrel of oil into 100% jet fuel. The difference is selling it through Sunoco rather than via Phillips 66, as a merchant or swaps. It may not signal any change at all in refinery technical operations.
Dec 3, 2016, 11:54 am
#293
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The refinery was always going to have gasoline and diesel to sell - there's no way to turn a barrel of oil into 100% jet fuel. The difference is selling it through Sunoco rather than via Phillips 66, as a merchant or swaps. It may not signal any change at all in refinery technical operations.
Dec 4, 2016, 7:30 am
#295
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Annapolis, MD
Posts: 483
