The Justice Department and the country’s top commodity market regulator are investigating a series of oil market trades just ahead of major policy announcements from President Donald Trump and Iranian officials, according to a source familiar with the probe.
The statements and social media posts all pertained to the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
ABC News first reported the investigation earlier Thursday; Reuters first reported the trades themselves in mid-April.
In addition to examining the oil markets for potential insider trading, the source told NBC News that investigators are also pursuing a separate probe into suspicious activity on prediction market platforms, also related to Iran war developments.
The source said that the investigations are in their early stages and that there is no conclusive evidence yet of criminal wrongdoing.
Some of the oil trades happened before Trump announced he would delay attacks on Iran’s power grids, before talks of a ceasefire and ahead of key developments in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking into at least four trades in which the traders made a total of more than $2.6 billion betting that oil prices would drop right before they did, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The trades are said to have been placed in March and April.
The Justice Department investigation is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation. The CFTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CME Group, which owns NYMEX, the exchange on which U.S. crude oil futures trade, declined to comment.
Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the London-based exchange on which international Brent futures trade, declined to comment.
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, contacted outside normal business hours in London, did not immediately comment.
