Commodities trader Trafigura stung by ‘CHF500 million fraud’
Commodities trading company Trafigura says it has been defrauded to the tune of $577 million (CHF530 million) by fake nickel shipments.
The firm, with strong Swiss links, has launched legal action against a Dubai-based metals trader and the group of companies he runs out of the Middle East emirate.
“The fraud concerns containerised nickel in transit during 2022 and involved misrepresentation and presentation of a variety of false documentation,” Trafigura said in a statement on Thursday.
Random checks of these containers found they contained no nickel at all. Most of the shipment is still in transit awaiting inspection.
Nickel is an important industrial metal with a variety of uses from batteries to coins, medical equipment and turbine blades.
Trafigura has set aside the $577 million provision in expectation of the worst-case scenario.
The company, which made a record $7 billion net profit in 2022, says the fraud is limited to one business line and would not affect group operations.
Trafigura added that it still expects profits for the first six months of 2023 to exceed those of the same period last year.
This article was updated on February 10, 2023, to indicate the correct figure of CHF577 million, not the previously stated CHF577 billion.
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