Traders Who Made $500 Million on Oil Crash Lose Antitrust Ruling

Eight London commodities traders lost their bid to end federal antitrust litigation in Chicago over claims that they participated in a $500 million scheme to rig oil futures markets when the price of a barrel briefly fell into negative territory, but their trading house and several colleagues are off the hook.

Judge Gary Feinerman let part of the case move forward in a ruling made public early Tuesday, saying the allegations make it plausible that traders at Vega Capital London Ltd. conspired to drive oil prices negative for the first time in April 2020 and subsequently concealed their market manipulation. ...