Back to the Marc Rich Days as U.S. Probes Commodity Traders

Not since the days of fugitive oil merchant Marc Rich has the commodities trading industry faced so much global scrutiny.

An oil pumpjack

Photographer: Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg

The biggest independent oil and metals trading houses, including Vitol Group, Trafigura Group Ltd., Glencore Plc., Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. and Gunvor Group Ltd., are facing bribery and corruption investigations in jurisdictions ranging from Brazil to Switzerland and, most importantly, the U.S.

Marc Rich

Photographer: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

The multitude of investigations echoes the early 1980s, when then-U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani prosecuted Rich, founder of the company that became Glencore, for tax evasion and buying oil from Iran in defiance of sanctions. The saga, ...