The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating a series of suspiciously well‑timed oil futures trades that occurred shortly before major policy shifts by President Donald Trump regarding the war in Iran, according to people familiar with the matter, as reported by US media on April 15, local time.
The investigation focuses on oil futures contracts traded on the CME Group and ICE exchanges, the anonymous sources said. Investigators are scrutinising at least two trades that took place on March 23 and April 7, and have asked the two exchanges to hand over data, including account identification information for the trades.
According to the sources, oil futures trading volumes surged abruptly before Trump's March 23 announcement delaying strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure and before his April 7 announcement of a two‑week ceasefire with Iran, leading to sharp swings in oil prices.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement that the suspicious oil trades "look like an appalling example of insiders rigging the market" and that regulators should do more to investigate potential insider trading by Trump administration officials.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said that anyone who engages in fraud, manipulation or insider trading in the markets will face the penalties of the law.
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