Oil trade giant and Trafigura founder Dauphin dies

London

ONE of the world's most influential oil traders, Claude Dauphin, who founded Trafigura and turned it into one of the biggest commodities players in the world, died on Wednesday at the age of 64 after a battle with cancer, the company said.

The Frenchman, who never gave an interview, began his career with the father of modern oil trading and US fugitive Marc Rich, who was active throughout the 1970s-1990s, and became his chief oil trader.

As Rich's business suffered in the 1990s because of wrong bets in the metals markets, many of his junior managers pushed through …