Trafigura: the 10-day unravelling of an alleged $500mn fraud
- Editor
- Feb 27, 2023
- 1 min read
Summary: This gripping exposé details Trafigura’s $577 million loss in a massive alleged fraud involving Indian tycoon Prateek Gupta. Over nearly a decade, Gupta’s companies sold Trafigura thousands of containers purportedly carrying high-grade nickel, which instead contained worthless scrap metal. Court documents reveal a frantic 10-day unraveling in late 2022, with Gupta faking a heart attack and stalling inspections just before investigators uncovered the scam. By early 2023, four major clients—including firms in China, Singapore, and the U.S.—confirmed they’d received bogus cargoes. Gupta attempted to negotiate repayments, offering real estate and letters of credit as collateral, but Trafigura deemed them unreliable and sued. The scandal exposed weaknesses in Trafigura’s internal controls and left the company scrambling to contain reputational and financial fallout.
Source: FT
