THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Federal regulators have the responsibility of ensuring a level playing field and honest activities. One of the most sensitive areas for regulation is the financial area. The Trump administration with its criminal friendly ways has brought their ideas to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

After years as a sleepy federal backwater, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission became one of Wall Street’s most aggressive watchdogs during the Barack Obama administration.

Now the agency — which is responsible for policing a broad swath of markets and financial machinery, from trading in commodities to digital currencies to the complex derivatives that helped torpedo the financial system in 2008 — is shifting its law enforcement strategy: It will increasingly look to banks and other financial institutions to come clean on their own about misconduct and problems in the market.

The commission’s director of enforcement, James McDonald, plans to unveil the new framework in a speech Monday night at New York University. It is premised on the idea that large financial institutions, given the right incentives, have the potential to be invaluable partners for law enforcement.

“We start with the shared understanding that the vast majority of businesses want to comply with the law,” Mr. McDonald will say Monday, according to a draft of the speech reviewed by The New York Times.

“But we also know that companies with even the best intentions can make mistakes or have a few bad actors,” he will say. “We also recognize that no matter how much corporate leaders may want to foster compliance within the company, when they detect misconduct their decision whether to voluntarily report it often comes down to their perception of whether they’ll be treated fairly.”

A similar philosophy is leading to a wide rollback of federal regulations on businesses under President Trump.

Under the commission’s new approach, companies that come clean about misconduct, cooperate fully with the agency as it investigates and fix their internal problems potentially stand to save millions of dollars.

Penalties imposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission range from a few hundred thousand dollars into the hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the severity of the offense and the size of the offender. Mr. McDonald said in the draft speech and in an interview that the agency expected to reduce penalties by roughly 75 percent for those that fully cooperate. In rare instances, he said, cases would be dropped altogether.

Commodity Futures Trading is the closest that the financial world gets to a wide open casino and even the smaller dishonesties can make one big money. Getting one of the many companies involved in trading to admit any mistake that makes them money is like getting Donald Trump to show his tax returns. It ain't gonna happen. But it makes the crooks feel safe and warm.