US CFTC: TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading to pay $48 million for attempted market manipulation

(Reuters) – The U.S. commodity markets regulator on Tuesday ordered the Swiss energy trader TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading SA to pay a $48 million fine, alleging that the company had attempted to manipulate the market for European benchmark gasoline futures.

“The scheme in this matter involved an attack on the market integrity of CFTC-regulated futures contracts on gasoline, and this settlement demonstrates such attacks will not be tolerated in any market,” U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Enforcement Director Ian McGinley said in a statement.

The parent company, TotalEnergies SE, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to the CFTC, in March 2018 the company flooded the market for physical EBOB benchmark gasoline at cut-rate prices while maintaining a large short position betting that EBOB futures would fall in value.

The maneuver amounted to losing money on physical sales to increase the value of the short position, according to the CFTC. EBOB is a benchmark of gasoline primarily used in Europe that the CFTC said trades on exchanges it regulates.

The agency said the company had offered some cooperation with investigators but had not adequately preserved some WhatsApp instant messages or produced them in a timely manner.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison; editing by Jonathan Oatis)