In fact, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has removed the two related statements from its website. Only the original charge, filed on April 1, 2015, remains.
That decision was voluntary, according to reports.
Neither Kraft nor Mondelēz would comment further to BakeryandSnacks.
On August 20, they told us, “We strongly disagree with the CFTC’s statements, which blatantly misrepresent the terms and spirit of the consent order, and will be seeking immediate relief from the court.”
Two days later, they filed suit and a federal judge ordered four officials, including the CFTC chairman and enforcement director, to testify at a hearing to be held next month.
How’d we get here?
CFTC handed down the penalty on August 19, ending a four-year battle. In official statements, the CFTC explained the deleterious effects of market manipulation, calling out Kraft specifically.
It also detailed the peculiar arrangement of this no-guilt-admitted deal, which required that CFTC refrain from further commented on the case – outside of the existing public record. Individual commissioners could speak freely ‘in their own capacities,’ and they did, publishing a separate joint statement.
Though neither party admitted blame, the commissioners said, their capitulation to the fine ‘is doing the talking.’
