The Great Nickel Heist!
Source: YouTube · Patrick Boyle · published Feb 21, 2023 · 19:33
Trafigura announced a $577 million write-down after discovering they purchased non-existent nickel from Prateek Gupta's companies 0:21-0:35.
Key Takeaways:
• The fraud involved 25,000 tons of missing nickel, with containers holding cheap carbon steel instead of valuable nickel 1:38-1:45 14:47-14:59.
• Gupta, despite his questionable reputation, maintained a relationship with Trafigura through TMT Metals which he acquired in 2016 0:42-0:48.
• The fraud was uncovered after unusual shipping delays over 300 days and investigators finding containers with no nickel 10:40-10:47.
This scandal follows a pattern of recent metals frauds and will likely lead to increased bank scrutiny, potentially impacting Trafigura's financing advantage 2:51-3:12.
Sources:
- 0:21-0:35 Trafigura's fraud announcement
- 0:42-0:48 Background on Prateek Gupta
- 1:38-1:45 Scale of missing nickel
- 10:40-10:47 Unusual shipping delays
- 2:51-3:12 Pattern of recent frauds
- 14:47-14:59 Containers filled with cheap metal
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First 800 characters of the transcript
When German miners first discovered Nickel in the
fifteenth century, they named it "Kupfernickel", or "Devil's Copper" because while
they thought it contained copper, they couldn't recover any from it. They blamed
their troubles on the devil, and since then, nickel has had the nickname “the devil’s
metal”. Amongst commodities traders it’s had a history of devilish behavior too.
Last week, Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodity trading firms announced a $577mn
write-down, claiming that they had fallen victim to a systematic fraud in the devil’s metal.
More surprising though to industry insiders was who they were dealing with, Prateek
Gupta, a 43-year-old Indian businessman with a ‘checkered reputation’ who had
been trading with Trafigura since 2016. Trafigura discovered that…