Prateek Gupta, an Indian businessman, faced serious fraud allegations as he gave evidence for the first time in a London High Court trial over a $600 million metals scam involving commodities giant Trafigura. The company claims Gupta and his firms promised to supply pure nickel but instead delivered steel or scrap metal.
Gupta admitted that he is being investigated for fraud in India but strongly denied the claims made against him during the hearing. The case dates back to 2014 when Trafigura began trading metals with Gupta’s company Ushdev International Ltd. That company later struggled financially and was declared bankrupt in 2018.
Legal teams for Trafigura said Gupta has a history linked to fraudulent dealings. They also mentioned two other fraud cases where his companies allegedly swapped nickel for cheaper metals. Gupta denied knowing about any such substitutions.
One of the key figures Trafigura lawyers mentioned was former senior trader Sokratis Oikonomou. Gupta said Oikonomou pushed to increase nickel trading aggressively and wanted Trafigura to dominate the market. Oikonomou has denied any role in fraud, saying the rise in trading with Gupta was small compared to the company’s overall operations. He left Trafigura in January 2023.
Gupta also claimed Trafigura staff created a secret plan to boost nickel trades to around 50,000 metric tons yearly—much higher than before—to reach that dominant market position. He explained that getting that much pure nickel was tough and would have raised issues with credit insurance from the bank Citi, which financed these deals.
To work around the problem, Gupta said Oikonomou suggested adding other metals like nickel alloys and scrap into the trades but keeping their true nature hidden. This was necessary because Citi’s funding was only for pure nickel, Gupta told the court from Dubai, where he now lives.
Citi has not commented on the fraud allegations. Meanwhile, an ex-Trafigura trader based in India named Harshdeep Bhatia, who is also mentioned in the case, has not responded to requests for comment.
The trial is shedding light on a complicated and expensive dispute over metals trading. At the heart of it is whether Gupta knowingly ran a scam by substituting lower-value metals, or if he was caught up in pressure from inside Trafigura to boost risky trades in an aggressive market. The court’s decision will have major implications for both sides and the wider commodity trading world.