Commodities Trader Gets 3 Years in Prison for Hiding Losses

A former commodities trader in Houston was ordered to spend three years behind bars after admitting to hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from his employer to secure a hefty bonus.

David Smothermon was sentenced Tuesday in New York by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, more than seven years after he was initially charged with overriding entries in his company’s accounting systems to conceal heavy trading losses.