A former Goldman Sachs trader who pleaded guilty in a criminal case earlier this year to fabricating huge positions to protect his bonus agreed on Friday to pay a $500,000 fine in a related civil matter.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday that Judge Richard J. Sullivan of Federal District Court in Manhattan approved the civil penalty against the former trader, Matthew M. Taylor. As part of a consent order, Mr. Taylor was also barred from trading commodities.
In November 2012, the regulatory agency accused Mr. Taylor, who traded equity derivatives products in New York, of hiding an $8.3 billion position he had taken in electronic futures contracts tied to the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Though his superiors had ordered him to reduce the risk on his trading book, he instead ratcheted up the position. To conceal the size of the position, he entered “multiple false entries†into a Goldman trading system, booking trades that he never actually made. The bogus trades gave the false impression that his portfolio was well balanced.
The C.F.T.C. also sanctioned Goldman for failing to supervise Mr. Taylor, and the bank paid $1.5 million to settle the case in December 2012.
At the time, Goldman said that the trades did not affect customer money. “Since these events, we have enhanced our controls,†the bank said, adding that “Taylor admitted his conduct following market close and was subsequently terminated.â€
In April, Mr. Taylor pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 25.
