Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 30, 2026
1 min readLast updated: January 30, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleTrafigura wins a $600 million lawsuit against Prateek Gupta for nickel fraud, with the High Court ruling in their favor.
LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Trafigura won its London lawsuit against Indian businessman Prateek Gupta over fake nickel cargoes on Friday, with London's High Court ruling in favour of the commodities trader.
Geneva-based Trafigura alleged Gupta was the mastermind of a fraudulent "Ponzi scheme" in which he and his companies agreed to provide high-quality 99.8% pure nickel but delivered low-value or even worthless materials instead.
Gupta accepted he did not deliver high-grade nickel cargoes but says Trafigura staff devised the scheme, something Trafigura's former head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denied when giving evidence in November.
Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled that Trafigura was induced to enter into contracts "by false and fraudulent representations" made by Gupta and his companies.
The judge also said Trafigura's former employees, including Oikonomou, were "wholly innocent of any wrongdoing".
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by William James)
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scam where returns are paid to earlier investors using the capital from newer investors, rather than from profit earned by the operation of a legitimate business.
A commodities trader is a person or entity that buys and sells physical goods like metals, oil, or agricultural products, often trading on exchanges to profit from price fluctuations.
High-grade nickel refers to nickel that has a high purity level, typically around 99.8%, making it suitable for various industrial applications, including stainless steel production.
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