Manipulating Precious Metals Markets

John Lounsbury submits:

There has been a lot of news in recent weeks about precious metals trading, but a lot of it is not on the front pages. In fact, you have to dig to find some details. One recent nugget involves a London silver trader, Andrew Maguire. You can read Andrew Maguire’s e-mails to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) alleging silver market (and gold market) manipulation by JP Morgan Chase (JPM), available here, courtesy of King World News.

Maguire spells out in advance of the events exactly what moves will occur in six moderately lengthy detailed e-mails from January 26 through February 9, 2010.

Responses from the CFTC: Two e-mails containing a total of two terse sentences each.

KNW also has an audio of an interview with Maguire, as well as with Adrian Douglas, board member of GATA (Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee,http://www.gata.org/). In the interview, it is stated that Maguire was refused the opportunity to testify before a hearing of the CFTC.

A meeting of the CFTC was held on March 25 in Manchester, CT to address metals market manipulation. William Murphy, Chairman of GATA, testified. Murphy said:

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee [GATA] was formed in January 1999 to expose and oppose the manipulation and suppression of the price of gold. What we have learned over the past 11 years is of great importance in regard to this hearing on position limits in the precious metals futures markets. Our efforts to expose manipulation in the gold market parallel those of Harry Markopolos to expose the Madoff Ponzi scheme to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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