Bloomberg: Selig Adviser Mel Gunewardena Told CFTC Supervisor to Retract Insider-Trading Referral on March 23 Oil Trades Placed ~15 Minutes Before Trump's Iran Reversal

On Tuesday, October 13 (Bloomberg report date), Bloomberg reported that a senior adviser to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, Mel Gunewardena, told a supervisor to retract an insider-trading referral that analysts in the Division of Market Oversight had sent to the CFTC’s enforcement division. The referral concerned oil-futures trading on March 23 (trade date), ahead of President Trump’s Truth Social post that day postponing strikes on Iranian power plants (the same day as the existing timeline entry on Trump’s postponement).

The trades (trade date March 23). Per Bloomberg as relayed by the Daily Caller, traders sold contracts equal to at least 6 million barrels of Brent and WTI in a brief window starting at 6:49 a.m., more than 8.5 times the volume for that time of morning over the prior week. About 15 minutes later Trump posted. A May letter from Sen. Warnock and Senate Agriculture Committee colleagues to Selig (a primary document, which also cites the same timing) says the available evidence “does not rule out the possibility that this trade may have been made legitimately.”

Dollar figures differ by source and window. The Financial Times estimate is $580 million; the Wall Street Journal, using Dow Jones data, put it above $760 million. IBTimes UK’s summary of the Bloomberg piece says billions of dollars’ worth of contracts betting that oil would fall were placed about 15 minutes before the post; that is the origin of the tracker’s word billions but the specific FT and WSJ calculations are far lower, and the Bloomberg original was not read, so the larger figure is unconfirmed.

What the CFTC says. Spokesperson Zach Fulton: the agency “does not confirm or deny any investigation.” An unnamed source called the reporting “false and malicious” and said the CFTC has an extensive, ongoing investigation begun in late March. An agency official said the review was broadened internationally, a task Gunewardena was “best placed” to lead. Per Bloomberg, Gunewardena then assembled his own team; the supervisor he told to retract had left by July. Bloomberg reported that the Justice Department opened a parallel investigation. No trader has been publicly charged.

Not established. The identity of the traders. Whether the retraction ended or merely re-routed the analysis (the CFTC account says the latter; Bloomberg’s account is that the referral was withdrawn and examination taken over). The adviser’s motive. The original Bloomberg article was paywalled and was not read, so every Bloomberg-attributed detail here is second-hand. The exact time of the post (about 7:04 a.m. ET per one outlet) was not checked against the post itself.

Context. Warren and Whitehouse had asked Selig in April to investigate the March 23 trades and a $950 million position placed hours before the April 7 ceasefire announcement. Bloomberg’s figure of 13 enforcement actions in fiscal 2025 frames the agency’s capacity.