Glencore Accuses Ex-Partner Radiant World of Faking Documents, Now Faces $2 Billion Countersuit in Singapore

Glencore Plc, one of the world's largest commodity traders, publicly accused a longtime trading partner of fraud this week, then got hit with a $2 billion lawsuit in return.

In a statement issued from its Baar, Switzerland headquarters on September 15, 2026, Glencore said it has "confirmed evidence" that Radiant World and associated companies, including Sapphire Minmetals, sent falsified invoices, falsified contracts and fabricated emails to a number of financial institutions. Glencore said the fabricated emails were falsely presented to lenders as having come from Glencore personnel.

Glencore says it has now ended all business with Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals and exited every obligation tied to the relationship. The company took a $480 million provision on its exposure, according to Bloomberg News, which it previously described as one of the largest trading losses in Glencore's history as a public company. In its statement, Glencore said the remaining exposure on its books is below its internal $500 million risk threshold and "not material" to its financial position.

Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals didn't sit still. Rakesh Sethi, chairman of Sapphire Minmetals, told Bloomberg News by phone that the two companies have jointly filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Glencore in a Singapore court. Sethi said the suit centers on alleged breaches of contract, arguing Glencore's withdrawal from the relationship violated commitments it had made and caused the companies "enormous losses." Claims Journal reported that it could not immediately confirm the filing on Singapore's court system website, and a spokesperson for Radiant World declined to comment on Sethi's statement.

'Senior Partner, Junior Partner'

Sethi didn't stop at the lawsuit. In a separate interview reported by Mining.com, he described the relationship with Glencore as one of "senior partner-junior partner," saying Glencore wanted "more volume, more market control, more customer base" and that the arrangement dated back to 2011 or 2012, when Sapphire was still part of Radiant World, before splitting off in 2015.

Sethi said the network of legally separate but closely tied companies suited Glencore because the trading giant caps its exposure at $500 million per counterparty. "So they wanted some more also," he said, according to Mining.com. "Radiant World also joined, and some other company, and we were working together."

A letter from Radiant World's lawyers, first reported by the Financial Times and cited by Mining.com, went further, claiming Glencore "organised and structured the arrangements and at all material times acted as the senior partner in the relationship," and that Glencore approved Radiant World's new hires, directed its payments, and advised on fundraising and pricing for its physical trades.

Glencore's spokesperson responded to those specific claims by repeating the company's position that they are "meritless" and that Glencore will "vigorously contest them," declining to address Sethi's remarks point by point.

The WhatsApp Trail

Bloomberg News reported it has reviewed WhatsApp messages from Peter Hill, Glencore's head of iron ore, spanning 2023 to 2025. In one message from November 2024, Hill reportedly told Radiant World that Glencore had "basically bank rolled your entire existence for the last few years," according to a letter from Radiant World's lawyers cited by Claims Journal.

In another message from early April 2025, Hill wrote "say nothing on email," according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg's reporting identifies Hill as a suspended Glencore executive, though the source material reviewed doesn't specify the exact date or stated reason for that suspension.

Those messages cut against Glencore's current framing of Radiant World as an outside counterparty that deceived it. If a senior Glencore executive was telling Radiant World to avoid email trails while also describing Glencore as the company's financial backbone, that suggests the relationship was closer and more directive than Glencore now wants to admit. Glencore has not offered a specific rebuttal to the Hill messages in the sources reviewed; it has only repeated that Radiant World's broader claims are meritless.

The Current Status

Glencore has taken a $480 million financial hit and formally accused Radiant World of sending fabricated documents to lenders, an allegation Glencore says it has confirmed internally. Radiant World has denied wrongdoing and says it operates to "the highest commercial and legal standards." No court, in Singapore or elsewhere, has ruled on either the fraud allegations or the $2 billion breach-of-contract claim. Both are now formal legal positions taken by parties with obvious financial incentive to shape the narrative.

Bloomberg reported back in July that several major commodity trading houses beyond Glencore had already begun cutting ties with Radiant World over concerns about falsified lender documents, suggesting Glencore wasn't alone in flagging problems. Whether Glencore's own conduct, as described in Sethi's account and the WhatsApp messages, amounts to complicity, negligence, or nothing at all will be decided by Singapore's courts. Glencore has said it is separately conducting an internal review of its historic dealings with Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals; no timeline for that review's completion has been disclosed.