Bets based on alleged leaks by the US officials to their friends are part of a pattern, a California professor has told RT

A reported $125 million pocketed by an oil trader from a perfectly timed Iran-linked bet is "only the tip of the iceberg" in what appears to be a pattern of insider trading tied to key developments during the Iran war, Professor Jack Rasmus has told RT.

Roughly 10,000 contracts worth an estimated $920 million were reportedly opened on Wednesday, less than an hour before media reports said Washington and Tehran were nearing an agreement, triggering a more than 12% drop in oil prices and an estimated nine-figure profit.

Similar suspiciously well-timed bets have repeatedly coincided with major developments during the war and public statements by US President Donald Trump, including on April 7, when oil prices plunged after he announced a temporary ceasefire, the professor from Saint Mary's College of California told RT on Friday.

Trades are placed "within minutes" of Trump's announcements about Iran, he said, calling the pattern "pretty constant [...] There's no other explanation" other than inside information. "Somebody in the government is telling their friends."

"Every time Trump says something that sounds tough the price of oil goes up," Rasmus said, adding that traders then made bets that generated an estimated $7 billion in March and April alone in what he described as a "very well organized" operation.

According to the economist, commodity exchanges including Chicago Mercantile Exchange and ICE "know who this is" but will not announce findings because "some people in the government got their hands in this pie." He described the Trump administration as "a big grift" and "a historical grifting" extending beyond oil into crypto and other "shady deals."

Check out the full interview below.

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(RT.com)