Senior Dems probe ‘unusual’ oil trades before ceasefire announcements

By Amelia Davidson | 04/10/2026 04:08 PM EDT

The senators say traders may have relied on inside information from the administration.

Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, on March 11. Iran moved to restrict passage through the strait in response to attacks from the U.S. and Israel, leading to higher oil prices. Altaf Qadri/AP

Two prominent Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into oil trading patterns they say may have relied on inside information from the Trump administration.

Banking ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called out an uptick in oil trading before two of President Donald Trump’s announcements regarding the war in Iran, including this week’s ceasefire deal.

In a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the senators say traders collectively made hundreds of millions of dollars on oil future sales that likely relied on nonpublic information.

“This is now a recurring concern during the Trump Administration,” the senators wrote.

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