S&P Global – Financial Treason & Crime

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”

03/23/202103/24/2021

Article: Former Glencore trader charged in global oil price manipulation scam

Article - Media, Publications

Former Glencore trader charged in global oil price manipulation scam

THOMAS BIESHEUVEL AND JAVIER BLAS, 23 March 2021

(Bloomberg) –A former Glencore Plc trader was charged by U.S. authorities with conspiracy to manipulate a key oil price benchmark, the latest sign that prosecutors around the world are stepping up their scrutiny of the notoriously opaque commodity trading industry.

U.S. prosecutors alleged that Emilio Heredia, a former Glencore employee, directed buy and sell orders that would push fuel oil prices up and down. That allowed the companies he worked for to profit from the price swings, between 2012 and 2016, according to a filing at a U.S. District Court in San Francisco on March 15.

The investigation is the latest legal setback for Glencore, already embroiled in a wide-ranging probe by the U.S. Department of Justice on allegations of bribery and money laundering. The UK, Swiss and Brazilian authorities are also investigating the commodity trader. Continue reading “Article: Former Glencore trader charged in global oil price manipulation scam”

07/05/202003/24/2021

Article: Green Plains sues ADM, alleging ethanol market manipulation

Article - Media, Publications

Green Plains sues ADM, alleging ethanol market manipulation

P.J. Huffstutter, 05 July 2020

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Green Plains Inc, one of the biggest U.S. ethanol producers, sued Archer Daniels Midland Co on Tuesday, accusing the global grain trader of manipulating the price of the biofuel to profit from its positions in the derivatives market.

Green Plains filed the proposed class action with the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, where it also claimed that senior ADM officials knew of the alleged manipulation. ADM told Reuters in an email statement that the company does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. It follows reporting by Reuters that ADM’s ethanol selling had led traders to complain to S&P Global Platts, which provides benchmark pricing for the physical ethanol contract at different U.S. delivery points. Continue reading “Article: Green Plains sues ADM, alleging ethanol market manipulation”