-- Published: Tuesday, 2 October 2018 | Print | Disqus
By Craig Hemke
Late Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) levied a fine against Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia for "spoofing" in gold and silver futures markets.
Here’s a link from Reuters with details: https://www.reuters.com/article/bank-nova-cftc/upd...
First of all, what is "spoofing"? Here are two links that may help. One is from Wikipedia, and the other is from Bloomberg:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoofing_(finance)
• https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/spoofing
From the Wikipedia page, here's a brief summary:
The fine and settlement with Scotia Bank is just the latest CFTC attempt to penalize key bullion banks for their efforts to manipulate the prices of COMEX gold and silver. Back in January, it was announced that Deutschebank, USB and HSBC faced similar penalties: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr768...
In summary, here are the fines levied thus far:
• Deutschebank $30,000,000
• UBS $15,000,000
• HSBC $1,600,000
• Scotia Bank $800,000
And here are three links that address the civil and criminal cases that have followed:
• http://comexwehaveaproblem.blogspot.com/2018/04/ub...
• https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/tricks-fro...
• https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/file/972986...
The question now becomes: Are the fines and prison sentences levied in these cases significant enough to halt the criminal and illegal behavior of these banks? That remains to be seen.
Multiple years of spoofing and price manipulation have undoubtedly allowed these banks and their traders to make handsome profits. The fines would seem to only claw back a small portion of these ill-gotten gains. And what steps are the CFTC and CME Group taking to eliminate this type of market manipulation in the future? Here's a link from early 2017, where the CFTC allegedly directed the CME Group to "broaden its rules against wrongdoing". However, a diligent Google search yields ZERO results to indicate that the CME Group has since taken any action whatsoever.
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cme-group-regul...
So it's likely that the manipulation of precious metals prices through spoofing and other disingenuous trading activity continues unabated. Sadly, it seems that in 2018 the scam of the paper derivative and fractional reserve pricing scheme has reached such ridiculously massive proportions that there are far more parties interested in maintaining the charade than there are those willing to expose it. And so it continues.
What also continues is the parade of supposed "analysts" who claim that the COMEX precious metals market are legitimate, fair and completely free of price manipulation. Given the abundance of evidence to the contrary—as well as the fines and the convictions—you'd think some of these characters would backtrack and admit their biases and motivations. Unfortunately, no such admissions will be forthcoming. Again, too many individuals and institutions have vested interests in maintaining the charade of the current system.
However, ALL lies and frauds eventually collapse, and the multi-trillion dollar fractional reserve precious metal pricing scheme is no different. Once the depth of the lawlessness from forty-five years of central bank and bullion bank alchemy is finally revealed, your only protection from what will follow will be the PHYSICAL gold and silver you personally own and store.
| Our Ask The Expert interviewer Craig Hemke began his career in financial services in 1990 but retired in 2008 to focus on family and entrepreneurial opportunities. Since 2010, he has been the editor and publisher of the TF Metals Report found at TFMetalsReport.com, an online community for precious metal investors. |
