How Marc Rich’s Former Haven Put a Commodity Trader on Trial (1)

When Trafigura Group director Mark Irwin stood up earlier this month to give evidence in a Swiss criminal court, it represented a pivotal moment in the relationship between the world’s commodity traders and the country that many of them call home.

Until now, Swiss prosecutors had never put a commodity trading house on trial. In fact, they’d never tried any company for corruption at all.

Irwin, who was one of Trafigura’s earliest employees, was the company’s official representative at the federal criminal court in the picturesque alpine town of Bellinzona, where Trafigura and three individuals — including former chief operating ...