Trafigura lent nickel receipts to uninvolved firms, Gupta says in court document By Reuters

By Pratima Desai and Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) – Commodity trader Trafigura used shipping receipts from nickel trades to boost profits by lending them to companies not involved in the transaction to raise financing, Indian businessman Prateek Gupta alleged in a court document.

Swiss-based Trafigura filed a lawsuit against Gupta in February, alleging systematic fraud involving nickel cargoes by seven companies or corporate defendants that Gupta controlled.

Gupta on Tuesday asked a London court to lift a worldwide freezing order on his personal and business assets because Trafigura had failed to disclose full information.

In a court document made public at the hearing, Gupta produced WhatsApp exchanges and emails with Trafigura staff that he alleges are proof that he was not alone in the operation to switch high- and low-value metals.

Gupta also alleged that Trafigura used a shipping receipt or bill of lading for “arbitrage trading” and in at least one case Trafigura “sold the bill of lading to two parties, one being the relevant corporate defendant and the…