New York Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres during an interview in New York on January 28, 2025.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. Rep. Richie Torres of New York on Wednesday called for a federal investigation into suspicious trading activity in the oil and stock futures markets, shortly before President Donald Trump announced a five-day delay in attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure in March.
In a letter first obtained by CNBC to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig, Torres cited reports of a series of irregular and well-timed trades in the minutes before Trump called for a cessation of hostilities.
“What kind of trader would make a huge, unhedged trade with billions of dollars at 6:49 a.m., 15 minutes before a market-moving presidential announcement?” Torres said in an interview Wednesday. “The only reasonable answer to that question is insider trader. No other option is statistically possible.”
Reuters reported last month that more than $500 million worth of oil futures contracts were traded in the roughly 15 minutes before President Trump announced the strike halt. The New Yorker reported that just before President Trump’s announcement, there was an unusual spike in futures trading volume predicting a fall in oil prices and a recovery in the stock market.
In his letter, Torres called the incident “potentially one of the largest insider trading cases in history,” and called on the SEC to launch a formal investigation and consult with the CFTC to obtain comprehensive transaction records.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday. The CFTC did not respond to requests for comment.
The SEC has named Gibson Dunn attorney and former agency official David Woodcock as its next enforcement director, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
“I have no confidence in market regulators,” Torres said in an interview. “But we have no choice but to press for accountability. We cannot allow the SEC and CFTC to turn a blind eye to what could be the largest insider trading case in history.”
This is the second time in recent months that Torres, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has raised the issue of possible insider trading related to actions by the Trump administration.
Torres introduced the bill in January after an account on prediction market platform Polymarket earned $400,000 in dividends after making well-timed bets in the hours leading up to the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
This bill would prohibit federal elected officials, Congressional employees, political appointees, and executive branch officials from buying or selling event contracts based on government policy, action, or political outcome if they have material nonpublic information. Although it has 42 Democratic co-sponsors, it is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled House.
Congressional Democrats have repeatedly expressed concern in recent months about the emergence of insider trading within the Trump administration, particularly in prediction markets. A group of House Democrats sent a letter to Selig on Monday questioning the CFTC’s role in regulating event betting that takes place in offshore prediction markets such as Polymarket.
“Recent high-profile cases of alleged insider trading on prediction market platforms related to U.S. government actions, such as the military intervention in Venezuela and the recent attack on Iran, have raised concerns that the CFTC is not properly managing these fast-growing markets,” the group, led by Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Seth Moulton and Jim McGovern, wrote.
