Feb 27 (Reuters) - Global commodity trader Trafigura Group sold nickel cargoes that did not contain the metal to a U.S. trade finance company and two state-owned companies in China and Indonesia, Bloomberg News reported on Monday citing court filings.

Earlier this month, Trafigura said it booked a $577 million charge relating to what it alleges was "systematic fraud" over nickel cargoes.

The contested cargoes were bought by Argentem Trade Services LLC, affiliated with Argentem Creek Partners, Hong Kong-based Axiom Ltd, two trading units of Chinese state-owned Xiamen C&D, and the trading unit of Indonesia's state mining company, Bloomberg reported.

These buyers also pointed to problems with the cargoes, according to the affidavit of Socrates Economou, Trafigura’s former head of nickel trading.

Last week, Trafigura Group appointed Mehdi Wetterwald and Daniel von Arx as the

new co-heads

of its battery metals trading business, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. (Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru Editing by Peter Graff)