Louis Dreyfus Cotton Futures Manipulation Case Gets Class Status

Louis Dreyfus Commodities BV must face an antitrust class action over its alleged scheme to “squeeze” traders in 2011 by accepting massive deliveries of cotton to intentionally disrupt the settlement of futures contracts, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Thursday.

Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. declared the case a class action, saying traders affected by the alleged market rigging could resolve the bulk of their claims in one swoop by showing that Dreyfus affiliates had violated the anti-manipulation provisions of the Commodities Exchange Act.

Carter, writing for the the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ...