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Bloomberg reports
that one of the longest running investigations ever conducted (or, perhaps, the longest) by the CFTC
(Commodities Futures Trading Commission) should finally come to an end in the
months ahead as the probe into manipulation in the silver market is
apparently winding down, verdict uncertain.
A four-year probe of potential price manipulation in
the silver market may be completed as early as September, according to Bart
Chilton, a member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“I am hopeful and expect the silver
investigation to conclude in the not-too-distant future, hopefully in
September or October,” Chilton, a 52-year-old Democrat, said in an e-
mail. “It has already taken way too long.”
The enforcement division of the Washington-based
agency, the main U.S. overseer of derivatives markets, began pursuing
allegations of manipulation in the silver market in September 2008.
Investigators have analyzed more than 100,000 documents and interviewed dozens
of witnesses, the CFTC said in a November 2011 statement.
Chilton, who didn’t say whether the probe has
uncovered evidence of manipulation, said previously that there had been
“repeated attempts” to influence prices.
“There have been fraudulent efforts to
persuade and deviously control that price,” he said at an October 2010
hearing in Washington. “Any such violation of the law in this regard
should be prosecuted.”
Though the Dodd-Frank Act has lowered the bar for
prosecuting market manipulation, don’t be surprised if the result this
time around is the same as it was back in 2008 when the group found no
evidence of big banks such as JP Morgan exerting an undue influence on the
silver price in prior years.
As we’ve learned recently, just about every
other market is manipulated in some way, but not gold and silver.
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