Eight days after the European Commission's dawn raids on oil companies this spring to investigate alleged price manipulation in physical Brent crude, among other fuels, a Chicago-based trading firm filed a class suit claiming it suffered damages from the actions of BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil — the firms under investigation by the commission (EC May31'13). Within two months, five other traders and funds followed suit, all demanding a jury trial to determine financial damages for all those who have traded Brent futures since 2002. The defendants in each of these suits are identical and the text of each filing bears more than a passing resemblance to the other.
展开▼
