U.S. regulator launches probe into suspicious oil deals ahead of Trump's statements

The US derivatives market regulator has launched an investigation into a series of suspiciously timed trades in the oil futures market that were made shortly before important statements by US President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. Billions of dollars worth of futures were bought and sold before sharp turns in the US war against Iran, the agency claimed.

The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to Bloomberg sources. It concerns transactions with oil futures contracts on CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

According to Bloomberg's sources, the CFTC has requested transaction data from both exchanges: the regulator is looking into at least two episodes that occurred within about two weeks, when trading volumes jumped sharply shortly before Trump's important statements. Among the data that the regulator has requested from the exchanges are so-called Tag 50 identifiers, which help identify the participants behind the trades, the agency said.

The CFTC, ICE and CME declined to comment to Bloomberg on the investigation, and a White House spokesman referred the inquiry to the CFTC. In late March, David Miller, director of the CFTC's Office of Compliance Oversight, said the agency was monitoring oil futures trading for possible violations, but declined to comment on any specific investigations.

Unusually high trading volumes in recent weeks have raised concerns that someone may have misused material non-public information related to Trump's changing stance on war with Iran, Bloomberg explains. Disruptions in oil supplies from the Middle East led to a sharp rise in prices at the start of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. In the following weeks, quotes fluctuated sharply on expectations of the resumption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

On March 23, 15 minutes before Trump's announcement that previously announced strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure were being postponed, billions of dollars worth of oil and stock futures traded in the market, Bloomberg writes. The president's post on Truth Social came out afterward, causing oil prices to fall and U.S. stocks to rise.

Similar dynamics were observed before Trump's announcement on April 7 of a two-week truce with Iran, the agency notes. A few hours before the news, activity in futures rose significantly, and after the announcement, prices for both oil and gas fell sharply, Bloomberg recalls.

Two Democratic senators have called on the CFTC to look into possible irregularities in oil futures trading. Last month, the White House circulated an internal memo warning employees against trading using sensitive information in financial markets and on fast-growing event betting platforms, Bloomberg claims.

"The desire to bring these cases to a conclusion is great," Brian Young, former head of the CFTC's Office of Enforcement Oversight and now a partner at Jones Day, told the agency. - After all, gas station prices are closely tied to oil futures, so this is about the wallets of Americans."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor