Suspended Glencore Executive Told Radiant ‘Say Nothing on Email’

(Bloomberg) -- A senior Glencore Plc executive last year urged counterparts at Radiant World not to communicate by email, according to WhatsApp messages from the company's head of iron ore seen by Bloomberg News.

"Say nothing on email," Peter Hill wrote in one WhatsApp message in early April 2025. In other messages dating from 2023 to 2025 he highlighted Glencore's role as an important backer of the Radiant World group of companies, and suggested that he was the ultimate decision maker for various aspects of Radiant World's trading.

The messages raise questions about the depth of Glencore's involvement with the Radiant World network of companies. Glencore was a key backer of Radiant World, Bloomberg has previously reported, but the relationship has ended in acrimony in recent weeks with Glencore publicly accusing the Radiant World group of fraud while Radiant World has filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Glencore.

Hill was suspended from his duties pending the outcome of a review into Glencore's dealings with Radiant World, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Read: Glencore Suspends Executive Who Led Radiant World Business

Screenshots of some of the messages were shown to Bloomberg News; in other cases, their contents were relayed by people familiar with them, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Bloomberg News was not shown the full context of the conversations in which the messages were sent.

A spokesperson for Glencore declined to comment on the messages. Hill didn't respond to calls or messages and the Glencore spokesperson said he declined to comment. A spokesperson for Radiant World didn't respond to a request for comment.

The relationship between Glencore and Radiant World has come into focus after Radiant World, Sapphire Minmetals and several related companies filed the lawsuit against Glencore in Singapore this week. Glencore has said that the "claims are meritless and we will contest them vigorously" and that Radiant World is suing it "for telling the truth about their fraud."

Radiant World has been accused of fraud in court documents by at least two of its lenders after Bloomberg reported concerns that it had been providing falsified documents to banks to raise money. Glencore, long its key backer, has cut ties and taken a $480 million provision on its outstanding exposure to the group, which includes Sapphire Minmetals, a closely connected but legally separate trading company. Radiant World has denied wrongdoing.