Jefferies Fund Accuses Radiant World and Sapphire of $900 Million Fraud in Receivables Deals

A fund managed by Jefferies’ Point Bonita Capital has filed an affidavit in a London court alleging that iron‑ore trader Radiant World and its affiliate Sapphire Minmetals engaged in large‑scale fraud involving receivables‑financing agreements worth nearly US$900 million. The claim expands on earlier reports that the two companies may have orchestrated one of the biggest commodity‑sector frauds since Enron.

According to the affidavit, the fund has evidence that Radiant and Sapphire fabricated and falsified legal and financial documents on an industrial scale. It also claims the firms repeatedly tried to prevent the fund from contacting the purported buyers of the financed receivables to verify their authenticity.

The alleged fraud is not isolated. Other lenders, including Mizuho Financial Group, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo and Incomlend, have pursued separate legal actions over roughly US$500 million of Radiant invoices that they also contend were fraudulent.

The court has already granted the fund a US$499 million freezing order covering the global assets of Radiant, Sapphire and their majority owners, Pinkesh Nahar and Rakesh Sethi. The Point Bonita fund is currently owed more than US$610 million, with over US$550 million tied to receivables for sales to Glencore and Vitol Group. Both commodity giants have supplied evidence that the sales documents were falsified and have stated they owe nothing to the fund.

The affidavit cites evidence that Radiant and Sapphire falsified documents for at least 50 receivables, with a nominal value of almost US$900 million. While Point Bonita is Radiant’s largest single creditor, Jefferies’ direct exposure is limited to a 5.9 % stake in the fund, as disclosed in its latest quarterly report.

Defendants have not yet filed a defence, and spokespeople for Radiant, Sapphire, Glencore and Vitol have declined to comment.