Trafigura Trading LLC, a unit of global commodities trader Trafigura, has agreed to pay a $55 million civil fine to settle U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charges.
The CFTC alleged that Trafigura violated U.S. laws and regulations by trading gasoline with material nonpublic information, manipulating an oil pricing benchmark, and requiring employees to sign agreements that impeded their ability to communicate with the CFTC during an investigation.
This marks the first time the CFTC has brought an action against a firm for impeding whistleblower communications.
Trafigura neither admitted nor denied the CFTC’s findings but has agreed to modify its non-disclosure provisions in employment and severance agreements.
The CFTC said Trafigura traded gasoline from 2014 to 2019 while possessing material nonpublic information it knew or should have known was misappropriated from a Mexican trading firm.
In 2021, it was reported that the trading arm of Mexican state energy company Pemex had temporarily banned new business with Trafigura as investigations into the energy trader’s conduct deepened.
Trafigura Agrees to Pay $55 Million to Settle CFTC Charges of Fraud, Manipulation, and Impeding Whistleblower Communications