By Brian Swint; May 24, 2013
The three oil producers under investigation by the European Commission for manipulating oil prices are being sued in a class-action lawsuit in the U.S.
BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Statoil ASA (STL) “deliberately reported inaccurate, misleading and false information regarding Brent crude oil prices to Platts,” Prime International Trading Ltd., said in a complaint filed May 22 in federal court in New York.
Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI), was raided this month along with the three oil companies by EU officials looking for evidence of price manipulation. Platts calculates benchmarks that are used in transactions worldwide based on reports from oil companies that buy and sell crude.
Prime Trading, based in Chicago, traded hundreds of thousands of futures contracts at “artificial prices” because of manipulation, the complaint says.
Spokesmen for BP and Shell declined to comment on the U.S. suit. A spokesman for Statoil was not available for comment when contacted by phone and e-mail.
The case is Prime International Trading Ltd. versus BP Plc (BP/) et al, 7:13-cv-03473-KMK, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (White Plains).
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Swint in London at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected]
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
