Jefferies-linked fund secures freezing order against trader Radiant World, source says

LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - LAM Trade Finance Group II, in which U.S. bank Jefferies holds a minority stake, secured a freezing order from a court in London against iron ore trader Radiant World and its founder, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The source declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Radiant World has come under pressure in recent weeks due to concerns that invoices provided to its banks may not have been valid. The firm has strongly denied the allegations, which have prompted some counterparties and lenders to halt or restrict business with it.

LAM Trade Finance Group II filed a pre-action application with London's High Court on August 27, court records show. The nature of the application or what it sought was not clear from the court file, which contained no publicly available documents.

As well as Radiant World, its founder Pinkesh Nahar, Sapphire Minmetals - another trading firm that used to be part of Radiant World - and Sapphire Minmetals Chairman Rakesh Sethi were named as defendants in the filing. No further information was available.

The CEO of commodity trader Glencore, Gary Nagle, said last month the company considered Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals to be part of the same group, although Sethi has denied this is the case.

Radiant World and Sethi did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nahar could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jefferies was told that some of the invoices underpinning its financing to Sapphire Minmetals were not genuine, Bloomberg News reported last month.

The London High Court filing marks the first litigation in Britain in the Radiant World saga.

Mizuho Bank, the banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group, has filed a case against the Singapore operating entity of Radiant World, according to the website of Singapore's Supreme Court.

On Thursday, Bloomberg News reported that Mizuho Bank had taken legal measures to remove management of Radiant World's Singapore unit. Mizuho declined to comment.

Another creditor, trade-finance firm Incomlend, is suing Radiant World and Nahar in Singapore for $34 million, Bloomberg News reported last month.

(Reporting by Tom Daly in London, Saeed Azhar in New York, Solomon Cefai in Singapore and Anton Bridge in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Jan Harvey, Tony Munroe and Thomas Derpinghaus)