Commodity trading business Traifigura announced today that it recorded a $577 million charge in the first half of 2023 due to fraud.
"Trafigura recently discovered a systematic fraud committed by a group of companies connected to and apparently controlled by Mr Prateek Gupta including TMT Metals and companies owned by UD Trading Group. Trafigura has commenced legal proceedings against Mr Gupta and the companies involved," wrote the company in a statement.
"The fraud concerns containerised nickel in transit during 2022 and involved misrepresentation and presentation of a variety of false documentation. The fraud is isolated to one specific line of business. We have seen no evidence to suggest that anyone at Trafigura was involved or complicit in this illegal activity."
Since late December 2022, the company said that a small proportion of the containers purchased from these companies have been inspected as they reached their destination and were found not to contain nickel.
