In Gunvor’s memorandum for the placement of Eurobonds, the company reported that the US Department of Justice was indeed interested in the activities of one of the group’s companies. The document (obtained by Forbes) states that in April 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York requested documents from Castor Americas regarding, "among other things," oil trading. Castor is part of the Gunvor group of Gennady Timchenko and is registered in the state of Delaware. The memorandum also states that three Castor employees and one Castor SA employee received subpoenas from the prosecutor and all of them complied with the demands. The document does not say exactly what requirements are being discussed.

No additional requests have been made by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York against Gunvor or its employees, but the company continues to cooperate with authorities in this investigation by providing documents and other information, the memo states. There are no other details in the document. The Vedomosti newspaper reported in October 2012 about possible interest in Gunvor on the part of the US Department of Justice in connection with manipulation of prices on the global oil market. Gunvor, in response to the newspaper’s request, did not directly disclose whether the US Department of Justice was investigating the company’s activities. Instead, the company said only that U.S. law enforcement authorities were not conducting investigations at its headquarters in Cyprus or its main office in Geneva.

The Gunvor group bought a non-controlling stake in Castor in December 2008, the Dutch Gunvor International (one of the group’s companies) reported in its 2010 financial statements. It also said that Castor is an international company that trades petroleum products. The purpose of the deal was to strengthen the group's position in Latin America. In 2009, Gunvor bought this company entirely and began to consolidate its indicators in its reporting.

The US Department of Justice is investigating the activities of Gunvor