Moore Capital Management ex-portfolio manager Christopher Louis Pia agreed on Monday to settle the charges by the US futures regulator and pay $1 million. He was charged with manipulating prices of palladium and platinum futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Pia made attempts to manipulate the settlement prices of palladium and platinum futures contracts from at least November 2007 until May 2008 while working for Moore Capital, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. He had engaged in a trading practice known as "banging the close.”

Under the terms of the settlement agreement Pia is prohibited from trading CFTC-regulated products during the closing period of the markets and from trading CFTC-regulated products in platinum and palladium. He should distribute this order to all current investors and to current and future employees.

"Christopher Pia is pleased to have settled with the CFTC in order to put this matter behind him. Pia Capital, his current firm, is committed to abiding by the CFTC Order and to maintaining the highest level of compliance," Pia Capital said in a statement.