Businessman Gupta refused permission to appeal in Trafigura nickel fraud lawsuit

Reuters

Thu, 26 February 2026 at 10:07 pm GMT+9 1 min read

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Indian businessman Prateek Gupta was refused permission by London’s High Court on Thursday to appeal ‌against a ruling that he defrauded commodities trader Trafigura ‌over fake nickel cargoes.

Geneva-based Trafigura alleged Gupta was the mastermind of a fraudulent “Ponzi scheme” ​in which he and his companies agreed to provide high-quality 99.8% pure nickel but delivered low-value or even worthless materials instead.

Gupta accepted he did not deliver high-grade nickel cargoes but says Trafigura staff ‌devised the scheme, something ⁠Trafigura’s former head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denied.

Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled last month that Trafigura was induced ⁠to enter into contracts “by false and fraudulent representations” made by Gupta and his companies.

The judge also said Trafigura’s former employees, including Oikonomou, were “wholly ​innocent of ​any wrongdoing”.

Gupta sought permission to ​appeal that ruling and was ‌refused, but can still apply directly to the Court of Appeal.

Trafigura’s lawyer Nathan Pillow said at Thursday’s brief hearing that Trafigura was owed around $640 million in total, including $140 million in interest.

Gupta is subject to a worldwide freezing order over his assets and agreed ‌to limit his living expenses under that ​order to 5,000 pounds ($6,763.50) a month, ​from 20,000 pounds a ​month.

Last year’s trial, which concluded in December, was the ‌culmination of events that began ​in November 2022, ​when Trafigura first received complaints about cargoes it had sold.

The discovery prompted Trafigura to carry out further inspections, book a $590 ​million charge and then ‌sue Gupta and his companies in February 2023 for ​what it then described as “systematic fraud”.

($1 = 0.7393 pounds)

(Reporting by ​Sam Tobin; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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