Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has been told that some of the invoices underpinning its financing to an iron ore trader called Sapphire Minmetals Corp. are not genuine, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discovery, which came after Jefferies checked the veracity of the invoices with Vitol Group, is a further blow to the US bank and its Point Bonita fund. Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that Jefferies was reviewing its exposure to another iron ore trader, Radiant World, and had found discrepancies in some of the paperwork underpinning its financing to it but believed the underlying trades were real.
