Aug 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. commodity markets regulator

on Tuesday ordered the Swiss energy trader TOTSA TotalEnergies

Trading SA to pay a $48 million fine, alleging that the company

had attempted to manipulate the market for European benchmark

gasoline futures.

"The scheme in this matter involved an attack on the market

integrity of CFTC-regulated futures contracts on gasoline, and

this settlement demonstrates such attacks will not be tolerated

in any market," U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Enforcement Director Ian McGinley said in a statement.

The parent company, TotalEnergies SE, did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to the CFTC, in March 2018 the company flooded the

market for physical EBOB benchmark gasoline at cut-rate prices

while maintaining a large short position betting that EBOB

futures would fall in value.

The maneuver amounted to losing money on physical sales to

increase the value of the short position, according to the CFTC.

EBOB is a benchmark of gasoline primarily used in Europe that

the CFTC said trades on exchanges it regulates.

The agency said the company had offered some cooperation

with investigators but had not adequately preserved some

WhatsApp instant messages or produced them in a timely manner.