A report by the French newspaper "Le Point" (Le Point) said that British traders are accused of manipulating oil prices during the closing period due to the Corona epidemic in 2020, and of violating antitrust laws to obtain 600 million euros in 20 minutes.
The report stated that 12 fraudulent speculators could have been able to strangle the oil futures market for about 20 minutes in order to earn 600 million euros during the closing, and the operation could have been carried out at full speed via the WhatsApp group, becoming perfectly suitable for rich, greedy and arrogant traders.
Beginning of the story
The report indicated that in April 2020, these traders bought about 3,378 contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or a third of the global trading volume in the crude oil futures market during that time period, and they bet heavily on reducing prices, and indeed the price of a barrel fell to minus 37.63 dollars at The close to rise again when the markets open to $10.
The writer explains that these professionals - who remained glued to their computers for whole days while offering securities for sale or purchase - turned their attention to the futures markets, in this case the oil market.
Complaint accepted
But the happiness of some may be a misfortune for others, and this is the case of an American commercial broker in metals and jewelry - according to the newspaper - who claimed that he lost a small fortune after the sudden drop in the price of a barrel of oil, and in the belief that he was wronged. His company took international legal measures regarding the issue of violating anti-trust legislation.
The indictment alleges that the “12 People Club” artificially lowered prices by acting in concert through their WhatsApp group.
The writer points out that the accused parties responded by saying that the collapse in prices resulted from the principle of supply and demand and not as a result of extensive financial manipulation, and when listening to them, they benefited wisely from the sharp drop in demand caused by the Corona epidemic, as the tanks were completely filled, and storage capacities were unable to absorb overproduction.
The writer notes that a judge in Chicago considered the complaint admissible, in light of the "substantial" exchanges of text messages between 8 of the 12 speculators in London who were directly involved in this manipulation of the oil and gas market.