# Report: CFTC staff told to retract oil-trading referral

Date: 2026

[Bloomberg](/people/michael-bloomberg) reported on 13 October 2026 that analysts at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission had sent an enforcement referral on suspicious trading placed minutes before [President Donald Trump](/people/mig-donald-trump)'s 23 March announcement that he was reversing threatened strikes on Iranian energy facilities, and that Mel Gunewardena, a senior markets adviser to CFTC Chairman [Michael Selig](/people/michael-selig), ordered staff to retract it. Anadolu, summarising the report, said contracts equivalent to at least 6 million barrels of Brent and WTI crude were sold in about two minutes, more than 8.5 times normal volume, alongside more than $2 billion in S&P 500 futures. A CFTC official said a broader international review was needed and that enforcement was still examining the trades. No one had been charged.

## Sources

- https://www.cftc.gov/About/ExecutiveLeadership/index.htm
- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-market-regulator-appointee-halted-probe-into-oil-trading-ahead-of-iran-strike-reversal-report/4088204
- https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/cftc-staff-told-to-retract-analysis-of-suspicious-oil-trades

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cftc-referral-retracted-report-2026-10-13