Acting Chairman Pham Announces Brian Young as Director of Enforcement
WASHINGTON, D. C. — Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting
Chairman Caroline D. Pham today announced Brian Young will serve as
the agency’s Director of Enforcement. Young has been serving in an
acting capacity since January 22, and previously was the Director of
the Whistleblower Office. He is a distinguished federal prosecutor
with nearly 20 years of service at the Department of Justice,
including Acting Director of Litigation for the Antitrust Division and
Chief of the Litigation Unit for the Fraud Section of the Criminal
Division, and has successfully tried some of the most high-profile
criminal fraud and manipulation cases in the CFTC’s markets.
“Brian exemplifies the best of what we stand for at the CFTC,”
said Acting Chairman Pham. “He is a fearless leader that will build an
even more impressive enforcement program that will stay true to the
CFTC’s mission to protect the American public from fraudsters and
scammers. I am confident that under Brian’s leadership, the CFTC will
expand and scale our resources to help more victims than ever before
and ensure the integrity of our markets in the name of justice. Brian
has hit the ground running and I look forward to seeing his continued
impact to strengthen the Division of Enforcement and deliver results.
”
“I want to thank Acting Chairman Pham for her confidence in
me and for her commitment to continuing the CFTC’s aggressive efforts
to protect our global commodity markets from fraud, manipulation, and
other abusive practices,” said Young. “As former Director of the
Whistleblower Officer, I worked closely with the talented and
dedicated staff of the Division of Enforcement, and I look forward to
working with this highly motivated group to help bring justice for
victims, protect those who cannot protect themselves, and root out
misconduct and wrongdoing. ”
Brian Young, Director of
Enforcement
Young joined the CFTC in 2024 as the Director of
the Whistleblower Office following nearly 20 years at the Department
of Justice. During his first year as the Director of the Whistleblower
Office, Young oversaw a team that achieved a record high number of
annual dispositions of whistleblower award applications. His most
recent role at DOJ was as the Acting Director of Litigation for the
Antitrust Division, where he served as the highest-ranking career
official in the Antitrust Division’s litigation program. There, he
oversaw criminal prosecutions brought under the Sherman Act as well as
civil merger and antitrust conduct litigation.
Before his
time at the Antitrust Division, Young served in various roles in the
Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, culminating in his appointment
as Chief of the Fraud Section’s Litigation Unit. While at the Fraud
Section, Young tried several of the most significant white collar
crime matters in the past decade, including prosecutions of the first
individuals tried in the United States on charges of manipulating the
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR); the former head of HSBC Bank’s
Foreign Exchange (FX) desk in connection with a scheme to “frontrun” a
client on a $3. 5 billion FX trade; and two former London and
Singapore-based Deutsche Bank precious metals traders arising from a
scheme to “spoof” the futures markets by placing over $1 billion in
non-bona fide orders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Young joined the DOJ through the Attorney General’s Honors
Program and began his career as a law clerk for the Honorable Alice M.
Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit. During his time at DOJ, Young received the Attorney General’s
Award for Distinguished Service, three Assistant Attorney General’s
Awards for Exceptional Service, and an Outstanding Service Award from
the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.