Trafigura 'warned' Credit Suisse over 'suspect' GFG invoice

Commodities trading house Trafigura warned Credit Suisse over a suspect invoice from Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance in July 2020, it has emerged.

The so-called receivable, the FT reported, indicated that Trafigura owed money to Liberty Commodities, the metal trading arm of Gupta’s conglomerate.

Prior to going bust in March, Greensill, GFG’s main financier, would lend money to clients and take invoices from their suppliers or customers as collateral. It would then sell on these loans to funds, chiefly those run by Credit Suisse.

The accounts concerned suggested that Liberty Commodities had raised financing from Greensill against a $30m invoice to Trafigura, meaning that investors in Credit Suisse’s funds should have made a return when the invoice was paid.

But Trafigura executives told the lender that they did not think this invoice was genuine, the FT reported.

Credit Suisse, Trafigura, Greensill Capital and Gupta’s GFG Alliance all declined to comment.

The reports are the latest in a string of questions over GFG’s financing arrangements since the collapse of Greensill.

Last month the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched an investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering at GFG, including its “financing arrangements” with Greensill.

Gupta’s business has denied wrongdoing and pledged to co-operate with the investigation.