Addison commodities clerk convicted of fraud

A former clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was convicted of commodities fraud after a four-day bench trial.

The judge ruled that Nicole M. Graziano, 33, of Addison, manipulated trades to profit more than $200,000 for herself and to the detriment of public customers.

Prosecutors said Graziano submitted 89 fraudulent trade cards while working as a clerk for a "lean hogs futures" trader between 2009 and 2010. The federal judge hearing the case said Graziano's "almost unbelievable success rate" of 90 to 100 percent of winning trades would have been impossible in an ordinary market.

Graziano was indicted in 2012.

She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine at sentencing slated for June 25.