Justice Department Investigating 10 Big Banks For Precious Metals Rigging?

Did you have to watch “Peanuts” 5,000 times before you figured out that Charlie Brown was not going to kick that footlball?   – John Titus, “Bailout Films”

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:

The Wall Street Journal reports this evening that “prosecutors in the Justice Department’s antitrust division are scrutinizing the price-setting process for gold, silver, platinum and palladium in London, while the Commodities Futures Trading Commission has opened civil litigation”  (Wall Street Journal).    Ten of the biggest banks in the world are allegedly under “scrutiny:”  HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia , Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Société Générale, Standard Bank and UBS.

The first question that comes to mind, is “does the Justice Department even have jurisdiction to go after banks for possible illegal market activity conducted in London?” The simple answer is that it does if the banks were conspiring in their price-fixing activities in offices in the U.S.

But let’s face it.  This is just another episode of the U.S. Government’s Kabuki Theatre version of “let’s show the public we’re cracking down on the illegal activities of the big bad banks.”   I can guarantee everyone reading this that, at best, the Justice Department will issue some small wrist-slapping sized fines and pat the banks on the butt and send them on their way.   This is just wash, rinse and repeat of the “crackdown” on mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

How come the Justice Department and the CFTC are not investigating the obvious illegal price rigging activities going on their own backyard at the Comex?  I’ll tell you why. Because every single legal professional at the Justice Department and the CFTC have either worked in the in-house legal teams at every Too Big To Fail Bank OR want to work on the legal teams at those banks.

You think I’m exaggerating?  Watch this:   How Eric Holder Turned “Justice” Into a Wall Street Criminal Protection Racket.

The moral of the story here is that the gold and silver investment community should not get their hopes up that this “investigation” will be anything other than just another insider mob-operated tribunal which completely disregards and parodies Rule of Law.

And no, I only had to watch “Peanuts” twice to figure out that Charlie Brown would never get to kick that football.

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