This past Wednesday, silver investors filed two lawsuits against banking giants JPMorgan and HSBC for conspiring to drive down silver prices and taking in hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal profits.
Specifically, both banks are accused of manipulating COMEX silver futures and options contracts for the first half of 2008. Each bank is accused of amassing an abnormally high amount of short positions in silver future contracts…these types of investments profit when silver prices fall.
Plaintiffs Brian Beatty and Peter Laskaris, who were also buying future contracts in silver, claim they lost money because of the alleged market manipulation. Each of them is seeking a “class-action” status for their lawsuits.
Both lawsuits were filed one day after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it would be seeking more authority to deal with those who manipulate prices. They’ve been investigating silver market manipulation since September 2008. Earlier this year, they were looking into allegations by a London trader that JPMorgan was manipulating silver prices.
This isn’t the first time silver prices have been under scrutiny by regulators…the most prominent case is likely dates back to 1980 when the Hunt brothers ran the silver price to over $50 per ounce in an attempt to corner the market…silver prices later plunged.
Silver markets can be quite volatile – since the CFTC began investigating silver price manipulation in 2008, the price has ranged from between $8.42 and $24.90 an ounce. Currently, it’s around $23.70.
We’ll keep on top of any developments in these cases.
I can understand the desire to wait until the price is right to back up the truck and load it up with physical silver. Bargain hunting is fine, we all do it from time to time. On the other hand physical silver is a limited resource and it might be unwise to wait too long or you might wind up buying cheap silver on paper with out being able to buy much if any real silver or take delivery. The big boys are not trashing the price of silver because there is too much of it around. They are trashing it because they have too much silver debt and they can’t tolerate high silver prices because it increases their liabilities and it makes fiat look like crap. It really is that simple.
This is only gonna get better. Physical Silver supplies drying. Pretty soon we will be digging that Silver out of our teeth to eat.
It was very interesting to note that as the sliver price collapsed on world markets, it went ballistic in the other direction at the IMF. Today its trading at 52.192 SDR. That gives it a Gold ratio of 19 to 1 app. The US$ on the other hand just took another big hit. down to 1554.97 per oz XAU. So by these calculations, Silver should be over 80$ per oz US. That’s just adding the big numbers in my head, It would be more if I did the math and added all the figures.
It has never been more urgent specifically for America’s middle-class to protect their savings from Inflation with gold and/or silver Now. Historically, one of the primary reasons for owning gold and/or silver has been their ability to preserve purchasing power during inflationary periods.. Over the long term, inflation robs us of purchasing power. If not addressed, inflation also destroys the long-term value of personal wealth. Gold and silver provide financial insurance that is both depression proof and recession proof!
Good comment. Most dealers are not as up to date on the news as your newsletter is. I hadn’t even heard this bit of good news from my other sources, so glad to have heard it first at Provident Metals.
don’t much appreciate your very light grey print though, would much prefer the regular black print. Grey is harder to read.
If this piggy is reading this correctly, it’s time to watch and be ready to load the truck with more if ya can! These CFTC clowns are more neutered than the last dog my family owned. Of course these terrorist banksters own the politicians or the whip would’ve been cracked long ago, spare the fact that there are banker-friendly shills on that useless board. Pathetic. OINK!!