7th Circuit Upholds Win For CME Group

The 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, March 23, affirmed a win for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in the antitrust lawsuit that US Futures Exchange filed in 2004.

USFE, formed by Swiss-German Eurex Exchange, filed the suit soon after it started competing with CBOT as an exchange for US Treasury futures. At the time, the CBOT and CME were separate entities.

The suit contends that two big Chicago futures exchanges, now both part of CME Group, illegally colluded to prevent a foreign rival, Eurex, from intruding on their home turf. Eurex’s US exchange filed the suit in October 2003 against the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It later revised the suit to accuse CME and CBOT of manipulating regulators and politicians to sabotage Eurex’s bid.

CME denies the allegations and is making a last-ditch effort to have the suit thrown out. It says Eurex’s US venture, called US Futures Exchange and now fully owned by Deutsche Boerse AG, failed because of its own missteps.

“After more than a decade, this lawsuit is still no substitute for USFE’s lack of a compelling business strategy,” a CME spokeswoman said. “This case is simply USFE’s and Eurex’s attempt to shift blame for their own failure.”

Full Content: Reuters

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