Calgary staff who left ‘toxic’ oil brokerage start a new firm

Staff members who exited a prominent Calgary-based oil firm at the center of multiple lawsuits have formed a new brokerage for trading Canadian and US crude.

Modern Commodities Inc. began operation last week in Calgary and carried out its first trade on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the business. Mandy Burgess, a former executive at Calgary-based brokerage NE2 Group, is the chief executive officer, according to her LinkedIn profile. Marc Bennett, NE2’s former head of North American energy, has also joined the firm as a chief operating officer, his LinkedIn profile shows. Modern Commodities, which registered in Calgary in May, has created a trading platform and seeks to hire 10 to 12 employees by the end of the year, people familiar said. 

Burgess and Bennett, who left NE2 in February after a falling out with the company, are at the center of a major dispute with their former employer, one that escalated when two-thirds of NE2’s brokers exited the firm over the Easter weekend. Bennett has sued NE2 and its president Tim Gunn alleging he was wrongfully dismissed after raising concerns about workplace harassment and an “ongoing toxic work environment,” according to the suit. NE2 has shot back by filing a C$11 million ($8.02 million) countersuit against eight former employees, including Bennett and Burgess, accusing them of trying to steal business from the firm.

The legal battles have shaken confidence in what had been one of Canada’s most important oil brokerages and a major price setter of Canadian crude grades, including the benchmark Western Canadian Select. The turmoil prompted oil traders to exit a CME Group Inc. contract used to hedge Canadian heavy crude.