Former JPMorgan global precious metals desk head Michael Nowak and precious metals trader Gregg Smith were both charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) with racketeering and conspiracy. A third man, salesperson Jeffrey Ruffo, was also charged but almost entirely acquitted.
Nowak and Smith engaged in illegal "spoofing," which involves the use of computer algorithms that disrupt normal trading activity for manipulation purposes. In essence, spoofing creates artificial pricing for assets, in this case precious metals.
The DOJ's most aggressive case to date targeting spoofing, the ruling saw Nowak get convicted on 13 other charges as well including fraud and attempted market manipulation. Smith was convicted on 11 charges.
"Ruffo, who was only charged with racketeering and conspiracy, was acquitted of both, the attorneys said," reported CNBC (Related: Back in June, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned about a soon-to-come "economic hurricane.")
Central banks like the Federal Reserve actively manipulate metals markets
For those directly involved in the metals markets, it is no secret that gold and silver are highly manipulated. The price for the actual commodities is skewed because of paper trading – meaning the trading of metals that may only exist on a screen and not in real life.
The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) confirmed this in a ruling against investment bank Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. (MLCI), which was caught spoofing the price of gold and silver futures contracts on the COMEX exchange.
"The number of investigations, legal cases, class actions and financial headlines involving precious metals manipulation are now so pervasive that it's hard to keep track of which cases are in motion and which investment banks are under scrutiny at any given time," reported Bullion Star back in 2019.
"But beyond the profit and greed driven bullion bank manipulations gold and silver prices, there is also the issue of central bank policy interventions to suppress the gold price by outright gold sales or using the opaque and secretive gold leasing and lending market. This is a less talked about manipulation given the secrecy of everything to do with central banks and gold, as well as a reluctance of the financial media to broach the subject and a reluctance of regulators to 'go there' by even looking at central bank gold market activities."
While it might seem encouraging for these JPMorgan goons to finally get what was coming to them, they are just the patsies, so to speak, in a much greater system of financial fraud that continues to dominate the world.
Until the big boys are finally held accountable for their crimes of financial terrorism against We the People, these convictions are mere stage play meant to pacify us all into thinking that there is still some semblance of justice in this country.
"Apart from fractional-reserve banking, precious metals market structure is perhaps one of the biggest cons on the planet," Bullion Star added. "So next time you think of precious metals manipulation, remember that in addition to spoofing and secretive central bank gold loans, the entire structure of the precious metals markets is unfortunately one big manipulation hiding in plain sight."
The silver lining in all this is that divine justice is coming for the pervasive evil that currently rules the world. They might think they have it in the bag and won, but they have something entirely different coming to them very soon.
As the current economic order implodes on itself, we will keep you informed about the latest at MarketCrash.news.
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