House Dem Sam Liccardo probes suspicious oil trades during Iran war
Representative Sam Liccardo, California, attends a press conference with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during the House Democrats’ 2025 Issues Conference at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia, on March 13, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., is investigating whether the nation’s top financial regulators reviewed a series of trades made just minutes before President Donald Trump gave a major update on the Iran war.
In a letter sent Friday to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig and shared exclusively with CNBC, Liccardo said he wrote to “express alarm regarding recent reports indicating large trades on crude oil prices and S&P 500 E-mini Futures immediately prior to the President’s announcement of action or no action in Iran.”
“The timing indicates that the bets were placed by those with prior knowledge of the President’s action, which strongly suggests that inside information was illegally traded, violating the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, and the Congressional Information (STOCKS) Trading Suppression Act of 2012,” Liccardo wrote.
A. Reuters A large bet on oil was placed just hours before the US-Iran ceasefire, resulting in a lucrative payout, an April 8 report said.
“This activity marks the latest in a series of well-timed, large-volume trades just before the President announces the next US action in the Iran war,” said Liccardo, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees securities and exchanges.
Some other trades during Iran’s war effort have sparked scrutiny. On March 23, activity in the S&P 500 e-Mini futures on CME noted a sharp and isolated jump in volume. A similar trend emerged in the oil markets.
The exchanges took place about 15 minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States and Iran were in talks and postponed expected attacks on civilian infrastructure. The market then recovered and oil futures fell.
US regulators are reportedly currently investigating the transactions and the CFTC is leading the effort. In his letter, Liccardo also called on the SEC to launch an investigation.
Liccardo also took aim at prediction markets, saying “prediction markets tied to stock trading and surprisingly well-timed large wartime bets on stock options ahead of President Trump’s tariff announcements strongly suggest insider corruption.”
Liccardo said a recent White House memo instructing officials not to engage in insider trading in prediction markets “provides little comfort.”
“No one in the federal service needs to be ‘reminded’ of the blatant illegality of personal financial enrichment through exploitation of confidential information obtained through public service,” he wrote.
Liccardo asked Atkins whether the SEC had opened an investigation into the transactions and what tools the SEC had to investigate them. He also sought information about how regulators can crack down on insider trading in the prediction market and what agencies are doing to ensure government employees do not profit from insider information.
