The Extremely Controversial History Of Commodities Giant Glencore

Glencore — an incredibly powerful and clandestine commodities trading firm — has a global network spanning 40 countries.

Reuters once called it "the biggest company you've never heard of."

But Glencore is the legacy of someone you have heard of, controversial businessman exile Marc Rich, who passed away last week.

Rich had a life story a Bond villain would envy: Plush villas, fine art, the requisite business deals with unsavory foreign regimes, and even a presidential pardon.

Glencore Xstrata came out of a firm that he founded in the 1970s after making a killing trading oil during the 1973 embargo.

From that day to now, Glencore has been controversial, to say the least — from allegations of kickbacks for Iraqi oil, to doing business in apartheid South Africa, to contributing to serious pollution in Zambia.

One thing is without question, though. With almost $240 billion in revenue last year, Glencore is filthy rich.

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