NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Citadel has hired veteran

U.S. oil and fuel trader Shai Barnea as a portfolio manager for

its refined products trading business as the U.S. hedge fund

looks to push deeper into commodities markets, two sources

familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Barnea previously spent over a decade at trading firm

Freepoint Commodities, where he was appointed global head of oil

products in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to

joining Freepoint in 2012, Barnea traded oil and fuel

derivatives for Barclays ( BCS ), according to his profile.

Barnea's appointment comes as Citadel continues to expand

its top-performing commodities business, which has delivered

record profits for Ken Griffin's hedge fund firm in recent

years.

Citadel's commodities arm, led by Sebastian Barrack, trades

oil, natural gas and agricultural products, among other key

markets. Earlier this year, it acquired privately-owned Paloma

Natural Gas, adding energy production to the trading portfolio

for the first time.

Citadel has also recently hired power trader Nic Zhang from

Goldman Sachs ( GS ), a source told Reuters.

Citadel declined to comment on personnel decisions. Zhang

and Goldman Sachs ( GS ) did not immediately respond to requests for

comment.

Reuters earlier reported that Barnea was among a number of

employees to depart Freepoint in recent months. His departure

coincided with an ex-Freepoint analyst's lawsuit alleging that

top executives at the firm, including Barnea, pressured

employees to break insider trading laws and retaliated against

those that objected.

Citadel began interviewing Barnea well before the lawsuit

was filed, and was comfortable proceeding with his recruitment

after it had reviewed the lawsuit, a source familiar with the

hiring process told Reuters.

Barnea and Freepoint did not respond to Reuters requests for

comment.