Trafigura Is Using Late Founder as Scapegoat on Bribes, Son Says

The family of Trafigura Group’s late founder Claude Dauphin has accused the trading house of using him as a “scapegoat” in its US corruption case, in an unprecedented public rebuke.

Trafigura last month admitted that Dauphin had approved bribe payments in Brazil, as part of an agreement with the US Department of Justice in which the company also pleaded guilty to a foreign bribery scheme. Trafigura’s guilty plea capped off a series of investigations targeting widespread corruption at the world’s biggest commodity traders, with rivals Vitol Group, Glencore Plc and Gunvor Group Ltd. already having admitted wrongdoing in separate ...