Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger riffs on the news that Deutsche Bank is settling U.S. silver pricing litigation.
Before I begin, I want to repeat a now famous quote authored by GATA’s Co-founder, Chris Powell, who, in commenting on the “odd behavior of markets,” penned the following:
“THERE ARE NO MARKETS ANYMORE; JUST INTERVENTIONS.” (Chris Powell, 2008, Washington Conference)
After what seems like a lifetime of serial denial by the MSM, of total head-turning by regulators, of behind-the-back snickering by financial commentators, and of in-your-face continued manipulation by the bullion bank behemoths, Reuters has finally reported an event that might—repeat—MIGHT be a game changer for those involved in silver trading and investments. At 7:09 last evening, it was reported that “Deutsche Bank to settle U.S. silver price fixing litigation,” which is a staggering admission of that very criminality of which I have been ranting, writing and opining for years now. Read the actual report here.
What is way more significant than a diseased, derivative-addled, sovereign-debt-impoverished institution admitting to defrauding us of hundreds of millions of dollars through price-rigging, Deutsche Bank have named two other institutions as co-conspirators in the fraud, HSBC and that venerable Canadian “Big Five” bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia. Being a Canuck, I find it at once both infuriating and thrilling that a member of one of the most notorious cartels in global financial history (“The Big Five Canadian Banking Cabal”) has been NAMED in the settlement. Mysteriously absent, of course, are JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, for the reason that by way of settlements, JPMorgan is the undisputed king of criminal activity, so to think that they were absent from this massive, multi-decade HEIST is simply illogical at best and naïve at the core.
From a personal standpoint, I am luxuriating in the knowledge that GATA’s Bill Murphy and Chris …read more