As pleas to indictments come in, trial dates scheduled.

As pleas to indictments come in, trial dates scheduled Federal prosecutors will bring the first of their cases against traders at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to trial in U.S. District Court on Dec. 4.

Howard Goberstein, a broker in the CBOT U.S. Treasury bond pit, will be tried on 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and 103 counts of violating the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA). He is also charged with racketeering.

Before another U.S. District judge, a broker in the CME Swiss franc pit, Robert Mosky, will face charges of racketeering conspiracy, 26 counts of mail and wire fraud and 37 counts of violating the CEA.

The four other traders who were indicted in those two pits either have pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and prearranged trading or are reportedly cooperating with prosecutors.

On Aug. 2, federal law enforcement officials announced the indictments of 46 traders at the two exchanges.

As of Aug. 31, 12 of the 21 indicted traders in the CBOT soybean pit had pleaded not guilty, three pleaded guilty and four had yet to enter pleas. Trial for the 12 was set for Feb. 5.

In the CME Japanese yen pit investigation, 17 traders had pleaded not guilty and four had pleaded guilty. No trial date had been set.

While prosecutors plan to try the defendants in each pit together, some defense attorneys hinted in court they might file pretrial motions to have their clients tried separately. In the yen and soybean pits, where numerous traders pleaded not guilty, prosecutors say it may take two to three months to present their cases.

Tapes as evidence

The 2-1/2-year probe, which was revealed in January, produced more than 500 audio tapes of varying lengths, recorded by FBI agents posing as traders in the four pits. However, it is not known if the tapes will be admissible as evidence in court.

Meanwhile, the criminal and civil investigations of traders at four New York futures exchanges by the U.S. Attorney's office in New York and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had yet to produce any indictments by the end of August. In May, subpoenas were given to dozens of current and former traders at the Commodity Exchange (COMEX), New York Mercantile Exchange, New York Cotton Exchange and Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.

A trader who reportedly received a subpoena, Preston Semel, was fined $350,000 by the COMEX Aug. 24 and suspended from trading for nine months after being accused of violating exchange rules against fraudulent conduct, improper cross trading and "prohibited" dual trading. His firm, Semel & Co., a clearing member at the COMEX, also was hit with a $200,000 fine and a cease and desist order for alleged violations. Sources say the combined $550,000 fine was the largest the exchange ever levied.

The charges against Semel and his firm stemmed from a complaint to the COMEX's business conduct committee in June 1988. The exchange would not comment on the specifics of that complaint. Under exchange rules, Semel can appeal the COMEX's disciplinary action to the CFTC.

Neither Semel nor his attorney returned calls to Futures by presstime.