On April 17, nearly $2 billion in Brent, WTI, gasoil & #gasoline #futures were sold at 1224-1225 GMT, MINUTES before Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said #Hormuz would reopen, followed by multiple social media posts by #Trump & #US officials. On April 21, some $830 ​million worth of Brent & WTI contracts were sold just 15 minutes before Trump extended the ceasefire.

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The selling was spread across the first, second & third month ​contracts, worth some $1.35 billion, plus an ⁠additional $122 million in ICE gasoil - diesel - futures, & $81 million in US gasoline futures, all worth a total $2.2 billion.

"Those quantities are not going to escape scrutiny," said Robert Frenchman, a lawyer at Dynamis LLP in NY, who has previously worked on white-collar #crime & #InsiderTrading cases.

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The trades look "well informed" as they preceded major announcements, said Adi Imsirovic, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (#CSIS), & a veteran #oil trader. #US authorities, such as the #CFTC, can access #exchange data to trace who placed the trades & investigate if it decides to, he added.
The CFTC’s enforcement director said in March the agency was aware of speculation regarding #InsiderTrading in CFTC-regulated #markets & was “watching”.

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…However, a further analysis of #trading data across exchanges & contracts showed traders executed similar bets at exactly the same dates & times for European #diesel & #US #gasoline #futures as well as longer-dated contracts for Brent & WTI, bringing the total to around $7 billion, based on Reuters calculations.

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Reuters & other media reported those trades on the most actively traded front-month contracts for the 2 global crude benchmarks, Brent & West ​Texas Intermediate . The value of those bets on those 4 days in March & April stood at around $2.6 billion, acc/to Reuters initial calculations.

The #DOJ & #CFTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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The same pattern repeated on April 7, before #Trump announced a ceasefire with #Iran that triggered a fall of as much as 15% in benchmark ICE Brent #futures. It happened again on April 17, when Iranian officials ​& Trump spoke about reopening the #StraitOfHormuz, & then again on April 21, when Trump extended the ceasefire.

#MarketManipulation #corruption #securities #finance #economy #government #CFTC #SEC #law #TrumpsWar #IranWar #US #Iran #war #geopolitics #NationalSecurity #oil