Staff at Trafigura Group worked with alleged fraudster Prateek Gupta to ensure that their dealings would not raise the suspicion of key lender Citigroup Inc., according to messages made public in the court battle between the two sides.
The revelation is the latest twist in a case that has shocked the commodity trading world, after Trafigura in February accused Gupta of perpetrating a massive fraud against it. The company said that it had paid more than $500 million for nickel, only to discover that the cargoes actually contained worthless rubble.
On one occasion in January 2022, a Trafigura employee instructed one of Gupta’s executives to “please maintain a minimum of credibility” regarding the journey times for cargoes of nickel the two companies were trading with each other.
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“Luckily Citi accepted this one, with little suspicion, but we might not get as lucky in the future,” he wrote. In another message in June 20