Image of Greg Mocek

Gregory Mocek

Partner

Email

Gregory.Mocek@aoshearman.com

Phone

+1 202 683 3887

Offices

Washington DC

V-CARD
Gregory Mocek’s practice involves legal and strategic guidance on a broad range of issues, including regulatory, government investigations, internal investigations, the Dodd-Frank Act, litigation, legislation, compliance, global financial regulatory and operational risk.

Gregory is one of the top commodity and derivatives lawyers in the United States, and has advised clients and led investigations in more than a dozen countries. In addition to recognition by Chambers, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, and The Legal 500, he was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America since 2012 in the area of Derivatives and Futures Law. He also was honored as Lawyer of the Year in The Best Lawyers in America 2013 for Derivatives and Futures Law. Chambers USA said Gregory is a lawyer who has “encyclopedic knowledge of the CFTC.” As a former member of the Board of Directors of the Commodity Markets Council, Gregory was involved in rulemaking and policy discussions with industry and regulators. Gregory remains on the frontline of domestic and cross-border regulatory issues, investigations, and litigation in the commodity and derivatives markets. He is regularly retained to advise and defend executives and corporations in bet-the-company regulatory matters, inquiries and investigations that require significant appreciation of markets, trading dynamics, and regulatory scope. His advisory work and defense of clients in the physical, swaps, futures, and options markets has covered multiple commodities including agriculture, energy, metals, interest rates, virtual currency, and foreign currency.

Over more than twenty years, Gregory handled regulatory matters, investigations and litigated cases related to price reporting and commodity benchmarks, manipulation, fraud, wash trading, false reporting, unlawful trading practices, supervision, spoofing, position limits, capitalization and many other issues. He has advised clients related to registration issues associated with designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, swap dealers, futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, commodity trading advisors, and commodity pool operators. Given his extensive regulatory background, Gregory was also called to testify during the rulemaking process at the CFTC, offering comments and insight on the disruptive trading practices and the spoofing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. As a former Director of Enforcement for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gregory rose through the organization to provide leadership as one of the longest serving enforcement directors in Commission history. Leading 175 professionals in the Division of Enforcement, he was responsible for managing the Commission’s investigations, policies and related litigation in the U.S. and abroad. During the Bush administration, Gregory directed a wide variety of domestic and international cases at the CFTC involving complex OTC, physical and on-exchange transactions. He also worked closely with the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force, the Enron Task Force, FERC, SEC, DOJ, and multiple other U.S. and foreign regulatory bodies. Furthermore, he played a key role in high-profile CFTC actions against Enron, Amaranth, and in hundreds of other complex cases. Gregory and his investigation and litigation teams developed techniques, theories, and case law in the energy markets that ultimately were the backbone of the commodity benchmark cases. Prior to his appointment as the Director of Enforcement, Gregory held several titles at the CFTC, including Special Counsel to Chairman Dr. James Newsome and Senior Trial Attorney.

Before joining the CFTC, he was in private practice and focused on securities, commodities and commercial litigation. Gregory advises a broad spectrum of clients, including domestic and international banks, proprietary trading firms, commercial companies, producers, commodity merchants, foreign and domestic trading houses, major oil companies, and hedge funds. He has represented corporations, boards of directors, and individuals in investigations involving the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, National Futures Association, Federal Trade Commission, Financial Conduct Authority, BaFin, CME Group, ICE Futures, and other regulatory and enforcement authorities. A frequent speaker on compliance, risk, fintech, and Dodd-Frank regulatory and enforcement issues, Gregory is a member of the Futures Industry Association, and the Commodities & Derivatives Section of the American Bar Association.

Expertise

Published Work

  • "Crypto-tunities: Transaction strategies in the challenging crypto markets", Allen & Overy update, July 13, 2022
  • Moderator, "Latest Developments in CFTC and FERC Enforcement," Futures Industry Association Commodities Symposium, Houston, TX, June 11, 2019
  • Panelist, "Outside Counsel Panel," CMC State of the Industry 2019, Miami, FL, January 29, 2019 
  • Panelist, "Enforcement and Litigation Developments," ABA Derivatives & Futures Law Section Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, January 24, 2019
  • Panelist, "Law and Compliance Enforcement Update," FIA EXPO 2018, Chicago, IL, October 17, 2018 
  • Panelist, "Regtech Deep Dive – An Eighteen Month Forecast of the Regulatory and Compliance Landscape," State of Digital Money conference, Los Angeles, CA, May 5, 2018 
  • Panelist, "The Basics of Enforcement Actions and Civil Litigation Related to Swaps, Futures, and Options," New York Bar, New York, NY, April 17, 2018 
  • Panelist, "Overview of Regulatory and Enforcement Landscape in Connection with Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Futures and Distributed Ledger Technology and Their Impact on the Derivatives and Structured Products Landscape," New York State Bar Association, New York, NY, February 27, 2018 
  • Panelist, "Outside Counsel Round-up," Commodity Markets Council Regulation and Compliance Conference 2017, Washington, DC, October 10, 2017
  • Panelist, "Managing Risk for Global Commodities Traders," TXF Geneva 2017 Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, October 6, 2017
  • Panelist, "Memory Lane - Those Who Forget History are Doomed to Repeat It," FIA 39th Annual Law and Compliance Conference on the Regulation of Futures, Derivatives and OTC Products, Baltimore, MD, May 3, 2017
  • Moderator, "Enforcement/Litigation Developments," ABA Derivatives and Futures Law Section Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, January 19-21, 2017
  • Speech, “The Gist: Minefields in the Current Policy Covering Spoofing and Market Manipulation,” The National Press Club, Washington, DC, September 9, 2016
  • “Inside the New Forex Market Code of Conduct,” Law360 (June 9, 2016), with Anthony Mansfield, Jonathan Flynn, and Jorge Pesok
  • “Regulators are Widening the Spoofing Net,” Law360 (May 26, 2016), with Anthony Mansfield, Paul Pantano, and Jonathan Flynn
  • “Compliance Departments Must Continue to Evolve as Regulators Refine Their Approach to Spoofing,” The National Law Review (May 5, 2016), with Anthony Mansfield, Paul Pantano, and Jonathan Flynn
  • Panelist, “Defining and Managing Energy Trading Risk and Policy - Enforcement,” Energy Metro Desk’s New Risk in Energy III Conference, Houston, TX, March 2, 2016
  • “Spoofing – A New Amorphous Crime With Domestic and International Implications for Traders,” Commodities Now Magazine (Feb. 2016), with Jon Flynn
  • Panelist, “Spoofing: How to Deal With This Tricky Offense and its Regulatory Guidelines,” FIA Law & Compliance Division Webinar, Washington, DC, January 14, 2016
  • “The Legal and Economic Implications from Recent Spoofing Cases,” Winter 2015 ABA Agriculture and Food Committee Newsletter, Volume 5, No.1, with Yan Cao and Dr. Greg Leonard
  • “A Practitioner’s Guide to the CFTC and SEC Whistleblower Programs” (Nov. 2012), with Joseph Moreno
  • Moderator, “Surveillance Case Studies: Disruptive Trading – The Fundamental Elements,” 31st Annual FIA Futures and Options Expo, Chicago, IL, November 5, 2015
  • “Surviving a Regulatory Inquiry,” Commodities Now (Sep. 2012), with Joseph Moreno
  • Panelist, “Outside Counsel Round-Up,” Commodity Markets Council Regulation & Compliance Conference 2015, Washington, D.C., September 16, 2015
  • Panelist, “Afraid to Trade?” FIA International 40th Annual Futures Industry Conference, Boca Raton, FL, March 10-13, 2015
  • Panelist, “Outside Counsel Perspectives,” Commodity Markets Council State of the Industry Meeting, Miami, FL, January 25-27, 2015
  • Panelist, “Long-Term Perspectives on Enforcement,” ABA Derivatives and Futures Law Section Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, January 22-24, 2015
  • Panelist, “My Regulator Is Scarier Than Your Regulator,” Cornerstone Research Conference, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, November 3, 2014
  • Panelist, “Benchmarks,” SFOA/FIA/FIA Europe Burgenstock 2014 Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, September 25, 2014
  • Panelist, “Of Counsel Panel,” Commodity Markets Council Compliance Conference, Washington, D.C., September 18, 2014
  • Speech, “Steering Clear of Enforcement,” Energy Metro Desk’s 2014 New Risk in Energy Conference, Houston, TX, April 7, 2014
  • Panelist, “Commodities and Derivatives Litigation and Regulatory Update,” 46th Annual Seminar, SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Society, Orlando, FL, April 1, 2014
  • Panelist, “CFTC Compliance Issues: Current Affairs,” Commodity Markets Council State of the Industry 2014, Miami, FL, January 28, 2014
  • Panelist, “CFTC: The Not So New Kid on the Block that is Making Waves Anew,” American Bar Association Eighth Annual National Institute on Securities Fraud, New Orleans, LA, October 24, 2013
  • Panelist, “Market Manipulation: Best Practices to Avoid Penalties and How to Enhance Your Compliance Program in Light of Recent Enforcement,” American Conference Institute’s 7th Annual National Forum on Energy Trading Compliance and Enforcement, Houston, TX, June 6, 2013
  • Panelist, “Litigation and Enforcement Update,” 35th Annual FIA Law & Compliance Conference on the Regulation of Futures, Derivatives and OTC Products, Baltimore, MD, May 8-10, 2013
  • Speech, “Dealing with Federal Investigations,” Deloitte Dodd-Frank Compliance Leadership Academy, Westlake, TX, February 27, 2013
  • Panelist, “Litigation-Civil and Enforcement,” American Bar Association Derivatives and Futures Law Section Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, January 24-26, 2013
  • Panelist, “Enforcement Issues and Disruptive Trading Practices Under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010,” D.C. Bar Derivatives & Futures Lunch Program, Washington, DC, September 6, 2012
  • Moderator, “Litigation and Enforcement - FERC and CFTC View,” CFTC-Dodd-Frank Compliance Forum, Edison Electric Institute, Washington, DC, June 26, 2012
  • Panelist, “Commodities: A Top Area For Enforcement,” 26th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, Miami, FL, February 29-March 2, 2012
  • Panelist, “How Will Regulation Reshape Commodity Markets,” World Commodities Week 2011, London, UK, October 25-27, 2011
  • Moderator, “Energy & Commodities OTC Clearing and Execution Under Dodd-Frank Regulation,” Energy Risk Webinar Round Table, New York, NY, September 26, 2011
  • Keynote Address, “Dodd-Frank - One Year Later: The New Landscape of Derivatives Trading in the U.S. Marketplace,” Capital Link 3rd Annual Global Derivatives Forum, New York, NY, September 8, 2011
  • Moderator, “Global Regulation: Discussion About Regulatory Changes and How They Will Alter the Way You Trade and Invest,” Commodity Trading & Investment Summit, Energy Risk, Geneva, Switzerland, June 21, 2011
  • Panelist, “Dodd-Frank Reform and What it Could Mean for Natural Gas Purchasers,” GasMart 2011, Chicago, IL, May 11, 2011
  • Panelist, “The Impact of Dodd-Frank on Energy Markets,” Electric Utility Consultants, Inc., Washington, DC, April 27, 2011
  • Panelist, Symposium, Ensuring Liquid and Transparent Futures Markets in a Changing Regulatory Landscape, Washington DC, March 1, 2011
  • “Commodity Traders Beware: Ten Urban Myths That Could Put You Behind Bars In the United States” (2011) 
  • “Building the House Before the Foundation,” Energy Metro Desk (Feb. 21, 2011), with Jonathan Flynn and Benjamin Chesson
  • Panelist, “Dodd-Frank Workshop,” Commodity Markets Council State of the Industry 2011 Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, FL, February 8-10, 2011
  • Panelist, “Enforcement Developments,” American Bar Association Derivatives & Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, February 3-5, 2011
  • Panelist, “Responding to Audits, Investigations, and Enforcement Actions in the Era of Multi-Agency Oversight - Practical Guidance,” Energy Bar Association, Primer on Enforcement and Compliance in Energy Markets, Washington, DC, December 10, 2010
  • Panelist, “Regulation, Changing Laws and Enforcement-The Implications for Commodity Investors and Investing,” World Commodities Week 2010, London, UK, October 4-8, 2010
  • Panelist, “Best Practices for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Surveillance in Compliance Programs to Reduce Risk,” American Conference Institute, 4th National Forum on Energy Trading Compliance, Houston, TX, September 28-29, 2010
  • Panelist, “Litigation and Enforcement,” Futures Industry Association Law & Compliance Division Workshop, National Harbor, MD, April 28-30, 2010
  • Panelist, “CFTC and FERC Manipulation and Enforcement Practices,” Energy Bar Association, Northeast Chapter, Washington, DC, February 24, 2010
  • Panelist, “Energy Roundtable,” Commodity Markets Council State of the Industry 2010 Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, FL, February 3-5, 2010
  • Day Chair, American Bar Association Derivatives & Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting, Naples, FL, January 28-30, 2010
  • Panelist, “Policy and Enforcement in Oil Markets,” Argus Oil Market Regulation Summit 2009, Houston, TX, October 20-21, 2009
  • Panelist, “The Extraterritorial Reach of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Enforcement Program,” World Commodities Week Europe 2009, London, UK, October 5-9, 2009
  • Panelist, “Enforcement by Administrative Agencies,” 8th Annual Gas & Power Institute, Houston, TX, September 10-11, 2009
  • Speech, “Derivatives Regulation in the New Economy: Loophole Carpet Bombing, Market Mutations, and Trader Liability,” Gas Mart 2009, Chicago, IL, May 20, 2009
  • Panelist, “Energy and Agriculture: Speculation, Manipulation and Regulation,” Futures Industry Association Law & Compliance Division Workshop, Conference on the Regulation of Futures, Derivatives and OTC Products, National Harbor, MD, May 13-15, 2009
  • “A New Era of Regulation Has Already Begun,” Commodities Now (Mar. 2009), with Athena Velie
  • Panelist, “New Developments in Enforcement,” American Bar Association Committee on Regulation of Futures and Derivatives Instruments, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 28-30, 2009
  • “The Next Regulatory Era,” Energy Risk (Jan. 2009), with Athena Velie
  • Panelist, “Conducting a Futures Business Post Congress 2008: The Fallout from Dramatically Higher Energy and Agriculture Prices,” Futures Industry Association Expo 2008, Chicago, IL, November 11, 2008
  • Panelist, “Energy and Commodities,” 40th Annual Seminar, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Compliance and Legal Division, Grande Lakes, Orlando, FL, April 2, 2008 

Qualifications

Admissions

Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court
District of Columbia
State of Louisiana

Academic

J.D., Tulane University Law School
LL.M., Boston University School of Law
B.S., University of Louisiana
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.