Trafigura Staff Raised Nickel Concerns Years Before Fraud Claim

Trafigura Group’s trade finance desk raised questions as early as 2020 over the company’s nickel-financing deals with firms run by Prateek Gupta, which would later lose the trading house around $600 million.

Trafigura’s lawyers last week described the situation as “a sort of Ponzi scheme,” with the trading house as the sole victim. The risks of those deals with Gupta were highlighted by Thibaut Barthelme, a member of Trafigura’s trade finance desk.