Readers of my blog have known for quite some time
now that I grew increasingly agitated with the charlatans pumping the gold
and silver price suppression memes over two years ago and have been quite
vocal about it on many occasions. I want to be clear about this point
before I continue. My beef isn’t with people who buy gold and silver or
who feel that a portion of their portfolio should be devoted to gold or
silver ownership. My beef isn’t with people that make well thought out
arguments for holding gold and silver either.
My beef is with the many that I have repeatedly
called for providing misleading and incorrect information to unsuspecting
investors looking for information on the relative merits of owning these
metals. Their influence on spreading incorrect, fear-ridden, greed-driven and
flat out WRONG information has spread so far that you would be hard pressed
to run a Google search on the topic of gold and silver ownership without
being met with page after page of conspiracy theories, most of which are just
cut and pasted from one site that usually starts the story while the others
fall in line and are more than happy to propagate whatever the story of the
day might be.
I have often called the usual suspects out on my
blog to, not surprisingly, be met with dozens of hate e-mails and
venomous comments. Funny thing though, not once when I question these
guys about their data or information does anyone bother to correct me.
Instead they simply regurgitate the meme and continue to propagate the myth.
The logic in this circle has always been if you repeat something enough,
people will accept it as truth but the fact it is copied, pasted and shared
among the gold and silver bug community doesn’t make it true.
One of my targets has been alleged “whistleblower”
Andrew Maguire. Anyone who has been following the precious metals over
the last 3 years knows who he is by now. For that haven’t heard about
him, he’s the guy who was the alleged “whistleblower” that the folks over at
GATA (Gold Anti Trust Action Committee) trumpeted out as their ace in the
hole. He was supposed to blow the entire lid off the alleged scam
behind the precious metals price suppression.
An active contributor to the comments section of my
own blog, and a blogger himself, Bullion Baron from the blog space www.bullionbaron.com
wrote a piece about Andrew Maguire recently questioning the facts behind
Maguire’s most recent allegations that Maguire made on King World News.
I won’t get into it here but that piece worth reading discusses the
inconsistencies in Maguire’s information that he often spews at King World
News in response to Eric King’s leading questions. (Bullion
Baron’s piece can be read here).
I’ve questioned
Maguire’s “off” statements in the past before as well. In fact, I’ve
often called him a charlatan who is living off his ego after he was appointed
“whistleblower” despite
the fact that the US Department of Justice called his evidence unreliable when
they dismissed any price fixing claims against JP Morgan and HSBC.
The courts did not
name the whistleblower by name but made the following findings. It can be inferred that given that
Maguire has been the only alleged whistleblower to have actually come
forward, and given the court’s summation of the material that this individual
was indeed Maguire. Why? Because the evidence summarized in
the ruling is what Maguire indicated had taken place. In other words, what
was presented at the hearing was pretty much what Maguire claimed had been
going on when he decided to come out as “the whistleblower”. I mean let’s be
real and use common sense. He’s the only alleged whistleblower to have come
out with the allegations summarized in the
court’s decision reads in part; (Emphasis is mine)
3.
Allegations of Additional Uneconomic Trades
In addition to the
manipulative trades made on June 26, 2007 and on August 14-15, 2008,the
Complaint alleges that JPMorgan used its dominant COMEX short position to
bring about trades that were “inconsistent with trying to obtain the best
sales price execution, but consistent with trying to move prices down by
aggressively selling in a compressed period to receive less on the sales
transactions.” (Id. ¶ 121; see also id. ¶¶ 5-6, 96-109.) In support of this
allegation, the Complaint discusses instances of unexpected “heavy selling”
which occurred between April 2009 and August 2010. (Id. ¶¶ 121-23.) These instances were allegedly brought
to the attention of the CFTC Commissioner by an unidentified “market
professional . . . registered with the National Futures Association,” who was
“a long time participant in the COMEX silver futures markets.” (Id. ¶ 122.)
An unnamed “whistleblower”5 also allegedly contacted the CFTC on February 3,
2010 to report that JPMorgan would be making an unidentified “signal . . .
indicating its intent to depress COMEX silver futures and options contracts
two days later.” (Id. ¶ 125.) On February 5, 2010, this whistleblower
contacted the CFTC “to confirm that the silver manipulation was a great
success and [had] played out EXACTLY as predicted.” (Id. ¶ 126.)
Footnote: 5 It is unclear from
the Complaint if the unnamed “market professional” registered with the
National Futures Association is the unnamed “whistleblower.”
Moreover, the statements made
by the unidentified “market professional,” (Compl. ¶¶ 121-23), by the unnamed
“whistleblower,” (id. ¶¶ 125-26), and by the “bragging” JPMorgan traders,
(id. ¶ 176), are not sufficiently factual to show that JPMorgan was the
proximate cause of the price fluctuations during the Class Period. The
unidentified market professional, for example, is alleged to have brought a
series of trades to the attention of the CFTC, but the market professional
is not alleged to have named JPMorgan as a party to these trades.
(See id.¶ 122.) Indeed
every one of the market professional’s statements are made in the passive
voice alleging that, “there was heavy selling of silver and gold;”“[t]here
were large sellers who came into both the gold and silver markets to drive
the prices down;” and so on. (Id.)
By
comparison, the unnamed
whistleblower who contacted the CFTC in November 2009 does specifically name
JPMorgan, but only to assert conclusory and speculative allegations that
JPMorgan and its co-conspirators “manipulate[d] and suppress[ed] the price of
COMEX silver futures and options contracts.” (Id. ¶ 123; see also id.
¶¶ 124-127.) The Complaint alleges no other information about this whistleblower
or about the details of the manipulation that the whistleblower is purported
to have observed. Indeed,
the whistleblower’s statement is itself speculative as to JPMorgan’s role in
the causation: “[h]ow would th[e price fluctuations] be possible if the
silver market was not in the control of [JPMorgan and its co-conspirators] .
. . . ?”(Id. ¶ 127 (alterations made in Complaint).)
For the reasons discussed supra, the statements by
the “bragging” JPMorgan traders are also insufficient to support the
allegation that JPMorgan caused artificial prices in the COMEX silver futures
market. (See Op. & Order Section V.A.3(b).) The Complaint alleges no
information about the date or the language of the remarks deemed to be
“bragging;” the identity of the traders who made these remarks; which of the
many trades that took place over the two and-a-half year Class Period were
the subject of the traders’ bragging; and no information about whether the
traders were acting at the instigation of JPMorgan to move silver prices on
the market. Cf. Harris, 572 F.3d at 72 (stating that “legal conclusions,
and threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by
mere conclusory statements” are not entitled to presumption of truth).
You can see that
even the courts found the “whistleblower” and his evidence to be
unreliable. I am inferring that the whistleblower referred to is indeed
Maguire. In a nutshell, thie so-called whistleblower couldn’t name the
traders, couldn’t attach them to JPMorgan and couldn’t verify their claims.
Read the paragraph’s above .. I think the message about the validity of the
inside scoops can be ascertained.
Long before this
decision however, I
wrote a piece questioning exactly who this guy (Maguire) was and why it
was so difficult for him to come clean about his past. That blog piece
was picked up by other blogs and websites via link sharing but in combing
through the many comments to my own piece and on the websites that decided to
pick it up, NOT ONE individual was able to provide any answers to my
questions. I also wrote another piece titled Silver
Whistleblower Goes Tout. That piece also got a ton of comments but again,
nobody was able to steer me to a legitimate curriculum vitae that actually
proves who this guy is or whether his claims of being who he is are actually
true.
Given the amount
of faith that the gold and silver perma-bulls have placed in Maguire’s
commentary, we need to
keep pressing for his real background. If he is given a
platform to speak on behalf of the few who are privy to the the price-fixing
community then I think it’s fair that he comes clean, especially since silver
is down over 50% from the highs and from when he emerged on the scene
claiming that forthcoming events would force the price of gold and silver to
explode. Many people bought based on these outrageous claims. Many
unfortunate people are left holding the bag.
A satirical post
about Andrew
Maguire being a Federal Reserve Plant sought to turn the table on
Maguire, showing through satire how easy it is to label someone a ‘bankster
shill’. Quite easily one can make the argument, as that piece
did, that we can come to the same conclusion about Maguire that he
comes to about the bullion banks. However my concern runs deeper than
that.
As I discussed in
my post about Maguire turning trading tout, I wrote that Andrew Maguire
turned shill when he decided to run a trading service touting his trades for
sale. You will also start to notice that this service is also being touted
now in many of Maguire’s interviews at King World News, enticing signups of
course. (One of the arguments I’ve had about the perma-bulls is that the ALL
seem to have something to sell you). Don’t believe me? Read the big promo add
about how much money he’s made for his clients in his latest interview with
Eric King at King World News HERE.
Those are some returns and given the climate of the metals market of late, he
has had to be telling his client’s to go short while at the same time
promoting the coming rise in metals prices to the readers of that site (just
like every other guest of Eric King by the way).
The fact that
Andrew Maguire's "trading service" is openly promoted now in all
his interviews and the fact that he has apparently ramped up his attack on
the bullion banks with incorrect information as highlighted by Bullion
Barron, deserves to be written about if for no other reason than to protect
the unsuspecting public who has already been duped buy this guy’s false and
misleading information.
The reality is ..
How can someone be labeled a whistleblower if we don’t actually know who he
worked for, when he worked there and what actual inside information he was
privy to? Let me put it to you this way. If I’m a day trader
working from my home and I happen to go out for a coffee at a bar where big
bank traders hang out and overhear them talking about how they took a penny
stock to $20.00 from $1.00 based on nothing and then shorted the stock at the
top into retail momentum I might get a chuckle. If I was caught into that
momentum trade and heard that these SOB’s just conned me, I would be pissed.
But, would that make me a whistleblower if I started to speak about it?
No. It makes me a party to hearsay. There is a big difference.
Now, if Maguire
got caught up in buying all the rubbish out there from GATA and the other
dozen or so that propagate their memes then happen to take a beating on a
long silver trade after a market correction I might be tempted to blow the
whistle on what I heard in a bar when two bullion traders were celebrating a
big win on a short trade. Could this actually be what Maguire’s story
really is? Is he just a pissed-off trader who took a huge loss only to
come to GATA with information that consisted of second hand information that
he overheard in a bar? A true whistle-blower is someone who took
part in the conspiracy and then decided to come clean. That’s the difference
and that is something that Andrew Maguire did not do.
Here's a guy who
is heralded as being an independent bullion trader of over 30 years having
worked for the infamous Goldman Sachs! Here’s his limited bio from his
trading service website.
Meet the expert
Andrew Maguire –
Precious Metals
Andrew is an accomplished
veteran of the markets. He has 30 years trading experience, both as an
institutional and independent trader, the last 19 years of which have been as
a metals specialist. Andrew is the driving force behind the MetalsTrades
services for Coghlan Capital.
YET...... Nobody
can verify this guy's actual background AND, more importantly based on my own
investigations, probably
doesn’t even hold a licence to provide financial advice. He
is certainly no licenced broker as evidenced by the myriad of disclaimers
attached to his trading service. I mean, anyone who actually reads the disclaimer can draw this
inference on their own.
I
apologize for printing the entire disclaimer but I do so to emphasize my
point:
Risk Disclaimer: (all emphasis is mine)
"Coghlan Capital is not a
registered investment advisor or advisory service. It does
not tell or suggest which securities or currencies should be bought or sold. The analysts and
employees or affiliates of Coghlan Capital may hold positions in the stocks, currencies
or industries discussed here. There is a very high degree of risk involved in
trading stocks, futures and forex. Coghlan Capital assumes no responsibility
or liability for any trading or investment results. Facts, statement and
charts posted to the company website (www.coghlancapital.com) may
unintentionally include inaccuracies. All
content posted is for educational purposes ONLY and independent advice should
be sought from a professional to confirm validity and accuracy of any claim
made. Such set-ups are not solicitations of any order to buy or sell.
Rather, you should use the Information
only as a starting point for doing additional independent research in order
to allow you to form your own opinion regarding trading decisions. You should
ask the firm with which you deal about the terms and conditions of the
specific futures or options which you are trading and associated obligations
(e.g., the circumstances under which you may become obligated to make or take
delivery of the underlying interest of a futures contract and, in respect of
options, expiration dates and restrictions on the time for exercise). Under
certain circumstances the specifications of outstanding contracts (including
the exercise price of an option) may be modified by the exchange or clearing
house to reflect changes in the underlying interest. You should always check
with your licensed financial advisor and tax advisor to determine the
suitability of any investment.
No
assumption should be made in relation to the performance or accuracy of the
methods shown. No claims are made as to the success or profitability of any
posts made within the company website.
DayTrades
The MetalsTrades and DayTrades services provide
insight as to trades that traders affiliated with Coghlan Capital may be
taking. These trades are published for educational purposes only and should
NOT be taken as instructions to buy or sell any commodity, option or
currency. THESE SERVICES ARE
INSTRUCTIONAL ONLY AND DESIGNED TO FAMILIARIZE MEMBERS WITH HOW AND WHEN
TRADES ARE TAKEN BY A PROFESSIONAL TRADER.
All
Trading involves risk. Leveraged trading has large potential rewards, but
also large potential risk. Be aware and accept this risk before trading.
Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose. All forecasting is based on
statistics derived from past performance of any trading methodology is no
guarantee of future results. No “Safe” trading system has ever been divided
and no one can guarantee profits or freedom from loss.
Before you make
any investment or trading decisions, you should carefully inform yourself
about the opportunities and risk. Apart from the financial aspects, this
might also include the fiscal and legal ones. Please particularly note that
the past performance of a trading system or trading strategy is not
indicative of future results. See also CFTC RULE 4.41
U.S. Government
Required Disclaimer – Commodity Futures Trading Commission Futures and
Options trading has large potential rewards, but also large potential risk.
You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to
invest in the futures and options markets. Don’t trade with money you can’t
afford to lose. This is neither a solicitation nor an offer to Buy/Sell
futures or options. No representation is being made that any account will or
is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed on this web
site. The past performance of any trading system or methodology is not
necessarily indicative of future results.
HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED
PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE
RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE
TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER-OR-OVER COMPENSATED
FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY.
SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY
ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO
REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE
PROFIT OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.
YET, this guy is touted as a professional trader of over 30 years
and promotes a "trading service" where he provides what appear to
be, by virtue of the disclaimer “hypothetical trades” with “hypothetical”
results. You
can see how I come to the reasonable conclusion that he doesn't even have a
licence that allows him to legally provide that financial advice ... yet HE CHARGES A FEE for pretend trades and treats
it like a video game to skirt the law. It really makes my blood boil.
Again, I apologize
for continuing to beat a dead horse here but this stuff is just so blatant
and wreaks of lies and deception that I must speak out to protect the little
guy who has taken a huge beating in the gold and silver market because they
bought into the deceptive practices touted by Maguire and those like
him. It disturbs me to no end that this guy gets away with this stuff
yet nobody other than Jeff Christianson (who actually worked for Goldman
Sachs and whose video appears in my post linked above) has had the balls to
call him out on it.
This isn’t about
where the price of silver or gold for that matter is headed. It has nothing
to do with fundamentals or technical analysis. This is about trying to get answers for
the people that have held their physical metal during a vicious correction
because of the information that Maguire and guys like him tout.
It’s for the guy who bought silver at $45.00 – $50.00 an ounce or gold at
over $1900 an ounce and is sitting on massive losses because they believed
what was told to them by the likes of Andrew Maguire and perpetuated by those
that propagate his conspiracy theories.
Therefore
I issue this challenge to Andrew Maguire.. .POST PROOF OF YOUR BACKGROUND,
a Curriculum Vitae
with contactable references. Verify your background is as claimed
and prove you are who GATA have made you out to be and I will promise
to never write another word about you again. In fact, I will even
provide you with a free banner advertisement spot on my blog for your
“trading service” for a
full year.
If Andrew Maguire
wants to keep his title of whistleblower despite the fact that his evidence has already been deemed
unreliable by the courts, then he should have no problem
accepting this challenge. All he has to do is PROVE that he really had
INSIDER direct knowledge of price fixing schemes and isn’t just a jealous or
disgruntled day trader who overheard a couple of real bullion bank traders
boast about a massive winning trade in the local pub, one that he was
probably on the other side of.
My challenge can’t
be clearer. Tell the
world exactly how you are an insider that blew the whistle off the
so-called price-suppression schemes and keep in mind that the courts already
dismissed your evidence because you didn’t name traders, couldn’t tie them to
the bullion bank you alleged they were from and you couldn’t even recall WHEN
you heard them bragging.
Tell the people
what your real connection is to the bullion banks you claim to know so much
about. Otherwise, please stop please stop misleading investors and
individuals by continuing to allow yourself to be labelled a whistleblower
because based on what we know and what the courts have already ruled, nothing
can be further from the truth when it comes to that ‘title’.