Bartholomew Hamilton Chilton (May 1, 1960 – April 27, 2019) was an American civil servant.
He was Commissioner at the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2007 to 2014. In April 2014, he joined
DLA Piper
DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average profit per equity partner of U ...
as a Senior Policy Advisor. He was the author of the investment fraud book, ''Ponzimonium: How Scam Artists Are Ripping Off America''. Chilton was a vocal supporter of position limits in commodities markets. He exposed manipulation practices in commodities markets and went on record as wanting to prosecute violations of law, which he believed had taken place in the silver market.
Early life
Chilton was born in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
,
[Bart Chilton biography](_blank)
CFTC official website. Retrieved May 7, 2011 and grew up in
Ogden Dunes, Indiana
Ogden Dunes is a town in Portage Township, Porter County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, within Indiana Dunes National Park and nearly surrounded by the city of Portage. The population was 1,110 at th ...
.
[CFTC's Energy-Industry Gadfly Gets His Way"](_blank)
''The Wall Street Journal'' (June 12, 2010). Retrieved May 8, 2011 His father and both grandfathers were engineers. His father, a
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
,
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
ed a way to create a self-standing artificial Christmas tree.
DuPont's
Thomas H. Chilton Laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware, is named for his grandfather, a
chemical engineer who worked there. Jess M. Bartholomew, Chilton's namesake, was an electrical engineer at the Joy Manufacturing Company in Michigan City, Indiana.
His great-great-grandfather was
William Parish Chilton
William Parish Chilton (August 10, 1810 – January 20, 1871) was an American politician and author who served as a Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862.
Early life
Called Will Chilton, h ...
[George E. Holbrook]
Biography of Thomas Hamilton Chilton
''Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering'', Vol. 1, pp. 19-25 (1979). The National Academies Press. Retrieved May 9, 2011 and his great-great-uncle was
Thomas Chilton, who both served in government.
After high school, Chilton worked at a
steel mill for a year, arguing later that the experience convinced him that someone had to look out for "the little guy".
He began attending
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...
in 1979, majoring in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
and
communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
but left one semester before graduating to work on
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
1984
political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
s.
Government career
Chilton worked in the
U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 1995, where he was legislative director for three members of Congress and was the executive director of the Congressional Rural Caucus. He later worked in the
executive branch during the
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
administrations, where he became the deputy chief of staff to
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
Daniel Robert Glickman (born November 24, 1944) is an American politician, lawyer, lobbyist, and nonprofit leader. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001, prior to which he represented as a Democrat in Con ...
and served as a liaison to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
.
From 2001 to 2005, he was a senior advisor to Senator
Tom Daschle. In 2005, he went to the
Farm Credit Administration
The Farm Credit Administration is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States. Its function is to regulate the financial institutions that provide credit to farmers.
Authority
The Farm Credit Administration is an indep ...
, where he was an executive assistant to the board, afterward becoming chief of staff and vice president for governmental relations at the
National Farmers Union, representing family farmers.
Chilton was one of the five CFTC commissioners from August 2007,
when he was confirmed by the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
after having been nominated by President Bush.
He was the chairman of the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee. He was re-nominated by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
and re-confirmed by the Senate in 2009.
In his first official remarks as a new commissioner on the CFTC, Chilton made clear his support for market regulation and has, since joining the CFTC, worked for the implementation of position limits.
In early 2010, he was contacted by
Andrew Maguire
Gene Andrew Maguire (born March 11, 1939) is an American politician who served three terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New Jersey's 7th congressional district (western Bergen County) from 19 ...
, who detailed fraud taking place in the
precious metals markets.
[Eric King]
Interview with Andrew Maguire and GATA board member Adrian Douglas
King World News (March 30, 2010). Retrieved May 6, 2011
King World News (January 26, 2010 - February 9, 2010). Retrieved May 4, 2011 Chilton had one of the senior investigators from the CFTC's enforcement division contact Maguire.
Maguire shared information in an hour-long telephone interview and detailed e-mails. Maguire accurately predicted a manipulative event in the silver
futures market
A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...
, notifying Chilton and the investigator two days in advance
and sending additional e-mails while it was taking place, pointing out important data.
Chilton believed violations of law have taken place in the silver futures market
[Asjylyn Loder and Pham-Duy Nguyen]
"Silver Subject to Price Manipulation, Chilton Says"
Bloomberg (October 26, 2010). Retrieved May 7, 2011 and said he wanted to see prosecutions.
[William D. Cohan]
"A Conspiracy With a Silver Lining"
''The New York Times'' (March 2, 2011). Retrieved May 7, 2011 Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee board member Adrian Douglas referred to Chilton "the modern-day equivalent of
Eliot Ness
Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was the leader of a team of law enforcement agents, nicknamed The Untouchables. ...
".
On April 15, 2011, Chilton issued a statement against legislation to delay the
financial regulatory reforms in the Dodd-Frank Act.
In July 2013, Chilton replaced outgoing Commissioner Jill Sommers as Chair of the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC).
Media career
Chilton joined
RT America
RT America was a U.S.-based news channel headquartered in Washington, D.C. Owned by TV Novosti and operated by production company T&RProductions, it was a part of the RT network, a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow fund ...
in 2018 as host of Russian network's financial television show ''Boom Bust''.
Death
Chilton died from complications of
pancreatic cancer on April 27, 2019, at a hospital in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Personal life
Chilton was married to Sherry Daggett Chilton, and in his last years lived in
Gulf Breeze, Florida.
[Obituary for Bart Chilton, Financial Times, April 29, 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/dad2acee-6a57-11e9-80c7-60ee53e6681d] A distinctive figure in his political and media career, he sported shoulder-length blond hair and liked to wear
cowboy boot
Cowboy boots are a specific style of riding boot, historically worn by cowboys. They have a high heel that is traditionally made of stacked leather, rounded to pointed toe, high shaft, and, traditionally, no lacing. Cowboy boots are normally ma ...
s.
References
External links
Complete list of Chilton's speeches as CFTC commissionerCommodity Futures Trading Commission, official website. Retrieved May 9, 2011
BartChilton.comPersonal website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Bart
1960 births
2019 deaths
Commodity Futures Trading Commission personnel
Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Delaware Democrats
Obama administration personnel
People from Gulf Breeze, Florida
People from Porter County, Indiana
People from Wilmington, Delaware
Purdue University alumni
George W. Bush administration personnel