No probe into Icahn’s biofuels credit dealings

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) has said it is not investigating biofuels credits, despite eight Democrat senators having called for Carl Icahn’s activity in the market to be scrutinised.

According to an article from Reuters, the news agency gained access to a letter saying the CFTC was not looking to investigate Icahn.

Icahn, an adviser to US President Donald Trump, has courted controversy recently. In 2016, his oil refining company CVR Energy made a substantial bet that prices for US government biofuels credits would fall. Shortly after, he became a special advisor to the President on regulations driving the market.

It is claimed that in 2016 CVR delayed buying the necessary biofuels credits and instead sold millions of them, a move which would only make business sense if the cost of credits subsequently fell. Following Trump’s election victory, prices of credits fell. In February 2017, the price of biofuels credits dropped again following policy changes proposed by Icahn.

On 9 May, the senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, sent a letter to the CFTC, Environmental Protection Agency and the Securities and Exchanges Commission asking for an investigation into whether Icahn had violated insider trading or anti-market manipulation laws.

According to Reuters, the letter it obtained from the CFTC to the senators, dated 19 May, said that RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers) were not traded on the futures market, meaning it wouldn’t investigate Icahn.

In the letter to the senators, the CFTC said it will advise the EPA on minimising fraud and market abuses, subject to the agency's budget priorities.