Commodities trading enforcer to resign

NEW YORK, July 9 (UPI) -- Gregory Mocek, director of enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is resigning his post in September, the agency said.

Mocek will join a law firm, McDermott Will & Emery, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The agency named Stephen Obie, council for the regulator's New York office to serve as acting director, effective immediately, the Times reported.

Mocek's move comes at a time when the issue of commodity trading has become a key economic concern. In a recent speech, Mocek said the CFTC would investigate commodity market manipulation on foreign exchanges "if it affects our market," the Times reported.

During his years as director of enforcement, the CFTC was awarded $2.1 billion in fraud and market manipulation cases, nearly three-quarters what it has been awarded in the past 20 years, the Times reported.