1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Congress must immediately investigate Energy Secretary Chris Wright for market manipulation. Using war for market manipulation is a crime. Wright posted a false claim on X that the Navy had "successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz," then deleted it within three minutes after oil prices experienced their steepest decline in years. The White House confirmed the post was false. This wasn't an innocent mistake. Someone profited from that three-minute window when oil prices crashed. Wright, a former fracking executive, knew exactly what impact his false claim would have on markets. Reuters reported the Navy has actually refused near-daily escort requests since the war on Iran began, citing high attack risk. Using war and national security lies to manipulate commodity prices is securities fraud. Senator Chris Murphy called the administration's lack of planning for the Strait of Hormuz crisis "unforgivable" after a classified briefing. Now we learn top officials may be exploiting that same crisis for financial gain. The Energy Department blamed unnamed staff for "incorrectly captioning" the post, but Wright controls his own social media account. Launch a full investigation into Wright's trading activity, his associates' positions, and who knew about this post before it went live. If evidence exists, refer it to the Justice Department for prosecution. https://www.commondreams.org/news/chris-wright-market-manipulation