Glencore

Together, Glencore and Glencore Ltd., both part of the multi-national commodity trading and mining firm headquartered in Switzerland, agreed to pay more than ...

For example, if Glencore Ltd. had a contract to buy fuel oil, Glencore Ltd. employees submitted offers during the Platts “window” for the express purpose of pushing down the price assessment and hence the price of the fuel oil that Glencore Ltd. purchased. Finally, between approximately January 2011 and August 2019, Glencore Ltd. employees conspired to manipulate the price of fuel oil bought and sold through private, bilateral contracts, as well as derivative positions, by manipulating the Platts price assessment for US Gulf Coast High-Sulfur Fuel Oil. Glencore Ltd. pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to one count of conspiracy to engage in commodity price manipulation. The price terms of the physical contracts and derivative positions were set by reference to daily benchmark price assessments published by Platts—either Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel or U.S. Gulf Coast High-Sulfur Fuel Oil—on a certain day or days plus or minus a fixed premium. Under the terms of Glencore Ltd.’s plea agreement regarding the commodity price manipulation conspiracy, which remains subject to court approval, Glencore Ltd. will pay a criminal fine of $341,221,682 and criminal forfeiture of $144,417,203. The Commodity Price Manipulation Case. According to court documents filed in the District of Connecticut, Glencore Ltd. operated a global commodity trading business, which included trading in fuel oil. The Port of Houston is the largest US port on the Gulf Coast and the busiest port in the US by foreign waterborne tonnage. In Venezuela, Glencore admitted to conspiring to secure improper business advantages by paying over $1.2 million to an intermediary company that made corrupt payments for the benefit of a Venezuelan official. Glencore also had charges brought against it by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and reached separate parallel resolutions with the Brazilian Ministério Público Federal (MPF) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As part of the conspiracy, Glencore Ltd. employees sought to unlawfully enrich themselves and Glencore Ltd. itself, by increasing profits and reducing costs on contracts to buy and sell physical fuel oil, as well as certain derivative positions that Glencore Ltd. held. Glencore concealed the bribe payments by entering into sham consulting agreements, paying inflated invoices, and using intermediary companies to make corrupt payments to foreign officials. These guilty pleas are part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the US, UK, and Brazil.

According to the US Attorney General, the cases represent the largest criminal enforcement action to date for a commodity price manipulation conspiracy in oil ...

Glencore paid bribes to judges to make lawsuits disappear. Glencore paid bribes to avoid government audits. Glencore paid over $100 million in bribes to government officials in Brazil. Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Venezuela. The bribery scheme here spanned the globe. Glencore paid bribes to secure oil contracts. US Attorney General Merrick Garland, “Glencore made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from these crimes – including $272 million from the foreign bribery scheme and $144 million from the commodity price manipulation scheme. Authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil announced that three of Glencore’s subsidiaries were pleading guilty to a range of crimes including market manipulation and bribery related to its conduct in developing countries.

Glencore, a mining and commodities trading firm, that paid bribe to some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to obtain an oil |

From 2002 to 2009 and 2011 to 2019, Stimler had worked in Glencore’s West Africa division. “In Nigeria alone, Glencore and its subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to the intermediaries, intending that those funds be used, at least in part, to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.” DoJ stated. “Glencore and its subsidiaries engaged two intermediaries to pursue business opportunities and other improper business advantages, including the award of crude oil contracts, while knowing that the intermediaries would make bribe payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain such business.

Both companies entered guilty pleas for FCPA violations and a commodity price manipulation scheme. Glencore paid over $1.1 billion to resolve these two major ...

For examples, when Glencore had a contract to buy fuel oil, employees submitted offers during the Platts window for the purpose of pushing down the price assessment and hence the price of the fuel oil that it purchases. Glencore plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in price manipulation. With respect to commodity trading, between 2011 and 2019, conspired to manipulate two benchmark prices published by S&P Global Platts for fuel oil products at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Houston. Glencore traders sought to increase profits and reduce costs on contracts to buy and sell fuel oil, as well as certain derivative positions that Glencore held. Under the terms of the CFTC resolution, Glencore agreed to pay over $1.1 billion, which consisted of a monetary penalty of over $865 million, and disgorgement totaling over $320 million. In 2021, a Glencore employee, Anthony Stimler, plead guilty to FCPA and money laundering violations. The FCPA violations stemmed from a decade-long scheme to pay bribes through third parties to benefit foreign officials in seven countries.

Glencore International AG and Glencore Ltd, a Swiss-headquartered international miner and commodities trader, pleaded guilty this week to charges of bribing ...

We have taken significant action towards building and implementing a world-class Ethics and Compliance Programme to ensure that our core controls are entrenched and effective in every corner of our business.” She said a significant component of Glencore’s criminal conduct took place at the company’s Stamford office in her state. The Department of Justice is also imposing two independent compliance monitors on Glencore, both in the U.S. to ensure that that’s the case. Market manipulation, he said, drives up the cost people pay at the pump or heat their homes. “This type of behaviour has no place in Glencore, and the board, management team and I are very clear about the culture that we want and our commitment to be a responsible and ethical operator wherever we work. “Glencore today is not the company it was when the unacceptable practices behind this misconduct occurred. These monitors are put in place by the DOJ when companies haven’t devoted the appropriate resources to put their own internal corporate monitors in place to detect potential corporate misconduct. The company has agreed to pay $485 million in penalties. DOJ officials would not comment if further charges will be laid against other Glencore executives as part of the ongoing investigation. According to the DOJ, sentencing in the market manipulation case is set for June 24. Glencore is a multinational natural resources company employing 135,000 employees in more than 35 countries. “Corporate greed motivated this pervasive misconduct,” the DOJ’s assistant attorney, General Kenneth Polite, said during the news conference.

Potash producer K + S plans to double production at its Bethune mine in Saskatchewan to four million tonnes annually. Courtesy of K + S. Welcome back to your ...

ArcelorMittal is inviting technology start-ups around the world to submit applications for its XCarb Innovation Fund, which aims to invest up to US$100 million in breakthrough technologies to accelerate the steel industry’s decarbonization. Burkina Faso’s prime minister has said that the mine’s managers are banned from leaving the country and investigations into the accident have been launched by both the government and Trevali. New pollution restrictions from the Biden administration could bar Northern Dynasty Minerals’ planned Pebble Mine from disposing of waste water near Alaska’s Bristol Bay, potentially halting the mine’s development, as reported by BNN Bloomberg. The new plan seeks to limit potential harm to the area, which is home to a US$2 billion salmon fishery. The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled in favour of Hudbay in the case of its Copper World project, freeing it up from the litigation around the company’s adjacent Rosemont project. Hudbay expects to deliver a preliminary economic assessment for Copper World in the second quarter of this year, which will include a two-phase mine plan. This week’s headlines include more potash from Saskatchewan, new restrictions jeopardizing the Pebble Mine in Alaska and an untapped talent pool for the industry.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company's headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, November 20, 2012. Mining and ...

It just got to be applied equally and transparent,” says Major. I don’t think anyone is going to complain if someone closed one of Glencore’s bank accounts if they were doing something similar to what the Guptas were when their bank account was closed. The law was designed for everybody, the law must be applied so equally to all parties and I don’t think Glencore will complain about this.

Glencore is facing as much as $1.5 billion in U.S. fines, though it may come out relatively unscathed considering its massive profits amid high commodity ...

Some of this is thought to be related to operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Glencore is a major player in cobalt and copper mining. In many cases, this was the only way to compete with each other for resources and cargoes. Whatever happens in the interim, this will not be the end of Glencore’s bad press. Many of us have read accounts of how trading companies and their “buccaneering ways” back in the day. Of course, that time period is also when much of the culture that led to their current disgrace evolved. However, the reality is that Glencore is making so much in this climate of metal scarcity and elevated prices, that they likely won’t have a hard time accommodating the fine.