Trafigura faces $577 million loss after uncovering nickel fraud in India

The missing nickel is a blow for the company that has grown rapidly in the past decade to become one of the world's largest trading houses

Commodity trader Trafigura Group is facing more than half a billion dollars in losses after discovering metal cargoes it bought didn’t contain the nickel they were supposed to.

Trafigura has spent the past two months uncovering what it believes is a systematic fraud against it, according to people familiar with the matter and confirmed by the company. It has started legal action against Indian businessman Prateek Gupta and several companies connected to him including TMT Metals and subsidiaries of UD Trading Group, Trafigura said in a statement.

The missing nickel is a blow for the company that has grown rapidly in the