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Valid Gold Manipulation Lawsuit Damaging For Banks– GATA
By Kitco News
Wednesday October 05, 2016 15:16
(Kitco News) - The heat is being turning up on five banks accused of manipulating gold prices through the twice-daily London Fix after a New York judge says there is some validity behind a class action lawsuit.
A New York court has found some validity in a class action law suite alledging gold price manipulationWednesday, Kitco News Editor, Daniela Cambone received court documents from a source wishing to remain anonymous. The document contained the opinions of presiding Judge Valerie Caproni of the US District Court. In her conclusions Judge Caproni granted the plaintiffs’ claims of unlawful restraint of trade between Dec. 31, 2005 and Jan. 1, 2013 and the plaintiffs’ manipulative device claims.
However, she denied the plaintifs’ antitrust claims. She also dismissed all claims against global firm UBS, leaving The Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Societe Generale still facing manipulation allegations.
Judge Caproni said in her opinion that the plaintiffs "plausibly allege that each of the Fixing Banks acted recklessly in creating artificial price dynamics in the gold markets around the PM Fixing," .
While it is still early in the court case, one organization dedicated to exposing market manipulation said that this latest ruling is a step in the right direction.
In an email statement to Kitco News, Chris Powell, secretary treasurer for the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. (GATA) said this finding, although not a ruling of market manipulation is still damaging to the bullion banks, “[I]t clears the way for discovery and deposition -- that is, clears the way for compelling the bullion banks to produce documentation and give testimony prior to trial.”
However, Powell added that he is skeptical that this case will ever go to trial.
“I have always suspected that if any market-manipulation lawsuit got past summary judgment dismissal, as this lawsuit apparently has done, the defendants would offer a lot of money to settle the lawsuit privately rather than give the world a look at their business practices,” he said.
Deutsche Bank already said that it was willing to settle its gold and silver manipulation lawsuits; however, Judge Caproni noted in her opinion that no motion for approval of the settlement has been presented to the court.
Powell also noted that the decision to allow the suit to move forward, “should awaken the monetary metals mining industry to the issue of gold market manipulation.”
