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U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking executive, was accused on Tuesday of manipulating global markets after he posted a striking claim on social media: The American Navy, he wrote, had “successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing.”

The post on X was deleted minutes later, after “oil prices slid at their steepest pace in years,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The White House press secretary later acknowledged publicly that Wright’s claim was false, and the Energy Department — which has been scrambling to quell mounting fears of a sustained increase in oil prices and broader supply chain chaos stemming from the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran — threw unnamed staff under the bus, saying they “incorrectly captioned” the post.

“So who just made $100 million dollars shorting oil for the 3 minutes that Chris Wright had that post up?” asked hedge fund manager Spencer Hakimian.

Anti-monopoly researcher Matt Stoller wrote in response to the post and its deletion that “the fusion of war-making and market manipulation by top Trump officials isn’t entirely without precedent, but the speed and brazenness does seem new.”

The debacle also notably drew a reaction from........

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