In 1974, commodities trader Marc Rich sets up Marc Rich + Co. AG, an oil trading company that would eventually become Glencore. By trading with controversial regimes such as apartheid-era South Africa and Pinochet-era Chile amongst others, often in breach of international sanctions, Marc Rich + Co. grows quickly and makes a fortune for its founder doing so.1

 

1  Walton Pantland for Industriall, “SPECIAL REPORT: Glencore, the commodities giant with no soul,” April 25, 2018, https://www.industriall-union.org/special-report-glencore-the-commodities-giant-with-no-soul