A division of giant commodities trading house Trafigura has agreed to pay $55 million to settle a fraud and manipulation case brought by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Trafigura Trading, part of Trafigura Beheer NV, neither admitted nor denied the CFTC's findings, Addin git had voluntarily tightened up its compliance program and modified its non-disclosure provisions in employment and severance agreements.
The CFTC had accused the business of trading gasoline using 'material' non-public information, manipulating an oil pricing benchmark and demanding that employees sign agreements that barred them from sharing company information, including with regulators.
It is the first time that a firm had been charged for impeding whistleblower communications, the regulator said.
According to documents released by the CFTC, between 2014 and 2019, Trafigura allegedly traded gas on information it knew or should have known was misappropriated from a Mexican trading firm.
In 2021, Reuters reported that the trading arm of Mexican state energy company Pemex temporarily banned new business with Trafigura following the start of investigations into the energy trader.