The weekend before the Lehman Brothers collapse unleashed a financial cyclone, a real one made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Ike tore across the Texas coast on September 13 2008, knocking out much of the region’s oil and natural gas production. Where residents saw destruction, traders on BP’s Southeast Gulf Texas desk recognised a “potential windfall”, lawyers at the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission argue. Sharp moves in wholesale natural gas prices after the hurricane had pushed up the value of BP’s trading positions. US regulators say the traders schemed to perpetuate the distortion to boost their profits. BP argues that the charges are “entirely without merit”.