World Fuel Services Under Investigation by US Department of Justice

The DOJ's investigation is understood to have been ongoing to some 18 months.

Miami, Florida Headquartered World Fuel Services Corporation (WFS) [NYSE:INT] has revealed it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), for what it says are matters related to its aviation, rather than marine, activities.

WFS EVP and CFO Ira Birns briefly mentioned the matter during last week's earnings call, saying that "On July 20, 2016, we were informed that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into the aviation and fuel supply industry, including certain activities of the company as well as other industry participants at an airport in Central America.

"We were served with formal request by the DOJ about our activities at that airport and our aviation fuel supply business more broadly and we're cooperating with this investigation. We really don't know much more about this matter at this time, therefore we don't have anything further to add."

Birns said the matter would be disclosed in its 10-Q, which was duly filed on July 29, but that contained no additional details, and the company has declined to comment further on the matter.

Ship & Bunker sources have indicated the Central American country in question is El Salvador, and that fellow Miami-based firm AEG Fuels is also being probed, seemingly as part of the same investigation.

WFS has also had an "office visit" from the DOJ, who took several documents as part of its investigation, Ship & Bunker understands.

A report from Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) this week quotes several anonymous sources who have commented on the matter, one of which said they believed that the authorities have "devoted a lot of resources" to the investigation, which is also said to have been ongoing for over 18 months.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Defense have also been asking questions related to the investigation, according to OPIS sources, and those departments have also looked into activities in the Middle East and possibly the United States.

For the record, none of the OPIS sources suggested anything illegal was taking place.

However, one source who said they were questioned as part of the investigation speculated that, based on what they were asked, it might be related to a suspected conflict of interest during the bidding process for various Department of Defense contracts.

Last week WFS reported a $34.8 million second-quarter net income across marine, land, and aviation divisions.