Having led the government watchdog that behaved more like a lap pup around industry, Walter Lukken is now set with a lucrative lobbying job—for the same businesses he was  once supposed to regulate.

 

Lukken was the acting head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the latter part of the Bush administration. In this role he was responsible for overseeing the highly profitable commodities markets and making sure investors didn't manipulate the buying and selling of such things as oil, wheat, rice and other staples of life.

 

But during his last year in charge of the CFTC, “chaos” reigned in many key commodities markets, including those impacting energy supplies and food products.  In fact, 2008 saw a historic spike in the price of oil futures, with barrels of petroleum going for, in the words of Matt Tabibi of Rolling Stone, the “lunatic high price of $146 per barrel.”

 

Before he left office, Lukken assured lawmakers that the price spike was not caused by speculators or “manipulative forces,” which helped convince Congress not to adopt certain reforms for the industry. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) accused Lukken and the CFTC of “turning a blind eye to artificial volatility,” adding, “They may be the only group in America that believes all is well in the oil markets.”

 

The CFTC is also responsible for regulating trading in derivatives linked to stock indexes and bonds, as well as monitoring speculation in U.S. markets by foreign governments. Again, Lukken was accused of ignoring these contributing factors to the looming financial crisis of 2008 because he was too close to the most powerful Wall Street firms.

 

Now, the former regulator is employed by the Futures Industry Association, which functions as the chief lobbying arm of futures investors—the same people he played nice with while running the CFTC.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Revolving Door: From Top Futures Regulator to Top Futures Lobbyist (by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone)