Article: The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing

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The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing

Antoine Gara,  28 March 2021

Up until recently, the website of Archegos Capital Management, the firm behind a reported $30 billion financial firesale that is battering stocks worldwide, contained a giant image of Central Park. The vista displayed on Archegos’ webpage was a fitting homage to the views of its offices atop a Manhattan skyscraper on 57th street, until the site was taken down as the firm gets liquidated.

Archegos was a giant in U.S. financial markets, apparently holding tens of billions of dollars in securities, including massive exposures to companies like ViacomCBS, Discovery Communications and Baidu. It traded with Wall Street’s largest brokerages, and was headquartered at an expensive address housing many powerhouse investment firms. But when it came to routine financial disclosures, Archegos was virtually non-existent.

Forbes searched for a trace of Archegos on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s repository for securities filings, called EDGAR, short for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval. Amazingly, almost nothing came up. Continue reading “Article: The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing”

Article: Ex-Glencore Trader Pleads Guilty to Manipulating Oil Prices

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Ex-Glencore Trader Pleads Guilty to Manipulating Oil Prices

Joel Rosenblatt, Malathi Nayak and Javier Blas, 25 March 2021

(Bloomberg) — A former Glencore Plc trader pleaded guilty to manipulating an oil price benchmark, allowing the world’s largest commodities trader to profit from the price swings and enriching himself.Emilio Heredia appeared by video conference on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco and admitted to a conspiracy in which he directed buy and sell orders that pushed fuel oil prices up and down.

Heredia, 49, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Justice Department lawyer Matthew Sullivan told the judge that Heredia, who became a naturalized citizen in 2016, could lose his immigration status and be removed from the U.S. But Sullivan also said Heredia had agreed to cooperate with the government as it investigates further.

Glencore has said it is cooperating with authorities. Continue reading “Article: Ex-Glencore Trader Pleads Guilty to Manipulating Oil Prices”

Article: Former Glencore Oil Trader Charged With Manipulation of Fuel Prices

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Former Glencore Oil Trader Charged With Manipulation of Fuel Prices

Dave Michaels, 23 March 2021

WASHINGTON—A former oil trader at mining company Glencore PLC was charged with manipulating fuel oil prices, in a case that echoes claims investigated in Europe seven years ago.

The ex-trader, Emilio Heredia, was charged under a document that prosecutors typically use when a defendant is to plead guilty. He is to be arraigned Tuesday in San Francisco federal court on one count of conspiracy related to trading through a process managed by oil-price benchmark publisher S&P Global Platts. Mr. Heredia directed other traders to submit orders that would push up or down prices, to engineer a move that would improve the profitability of other transactions in physical fuel oil, according to the charging document filed in court last week. Continue reading “Article: Former Glencore Oil Trader Charged With Manipulation of Fuel Prices”

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