Modern Markets Initiative, a pro-HFT trade group set up late last year, announced today it had hired a former Bank of America executive, Bill Harts, as its chief executive and signed a consulting contract with the law firm DLA Piper.

DLA Piper's point of contact for the trade group is none other than Bart Chilton, a former regulator at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission who used to refer to high-frequency trading firms as "cheetahs."