JP Morgan and HSBC Face RICO Charges in Silver Futures Class Action Lawsuit

The suit – which alleges violation of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act – alleges that the two banks colluded to manipulate the market for silver futures starting in the first half of 2008 by amassing huge short positions in silver futures contracts they had no intent to fill, but did so to force silver prices down to their benefit.

According to the lawsuit, JP Morgan and HSBC used a variety of methods to coordinate their manipulation of the market for silver futures contracts, signaling when to flood the COMEX market with short positions, which caused the price of silver futures and options contracts to crash.

The suit describes two "crash" events that were set in motion by JP Morgan and HSBC, one in March 2008, and the other in February 2010, after defendants had amassed large short positions.  In the wake of both events, the suit alleges, COMEX silver futures prices collapsed.

 Read the Full article at: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro: JP Morgan and HSBC Face RICO Charges in Silver Futures Class Action Lawsuit