No doubt you’re aware of the massive fraud uncovered at Theranos, the high tech medical startup purported to be able to run any number of diagnostic tests from a single drop of blood. Theranos was a Silicon Valley upstart valued at $10 billion at its peak and headed by an attractive young woman modeled after the late Steve Jobs. Theranos’ diagnostic machines didn’t work as advertised and the whole fraud, said to be the largest since Enron, was uncovered by a sharp and determined reporter at the Wall Street Journal. The reporter, John Carreyrou, was instrumental in the fraud’s demise.
The first rule of great frauds is that the real facts must remain in the dark; while the second rule is for insiders to fight against the facts being brought into the sunlight. These are also the rules that have enabled the COMEX silver manipulation to exist for as long as it has. Theranos was founded in 2003, so the fraud lasted nearly a decade and a half. The silver fraud has lasted for more than three decades, but then again, this fraud is more sophisticated with vested interests much stronger than the fraud at Theranos. Carreyrou’s first story on Theranos appeared in Oct 2015 and in practically one fell swoop, the real Theranos story was brought into the light. It’s much different with the fraud of the COMEX silver manipulation.
Admittedly, many individual investors have come to learn of the COMEX silver manipulation fraud over the years, but none have learned about it from a main stream media platform like the Wall Street Journal. Word of the COMEX silver fraud has largely been disseminated on the Internet. With Theranos, it came down to the very simple proposition of did their blood testing technology work? The equally simple answer was no. With silver, it’s nowhere near as simple. The ongoing price manipulation is far more complex.
With the COMEX silver fraud, all the leading legitimate participants and regulators have aligned themselves to prolong the fraud. Whereas the Securities and Exchange Commission wasted little time is finding Theranos to be a fraud, the CFTC has denied the COMEX silver fraud every step of the way for 30 years. It has totally clammed up on the matter for the past decade, despite more specific allegations of wrongdoing than ever before. It is the CFTC’s own data that indicate the consistent presence of a concentrated short position (by JPMorgan) over the past ten years in COMEX silver futures that is so dominant and controlling of price that the bank has never once taken a loss when shorting silver, only profits. JPMorgan has used the result of its price suppression – an artificial low price – to acquire the largest position of physical metal in history, some 700 million ounces and counting. That’s nearly seven times the amount of silver bought by the Hunt Brothers in 1980 or Berkshire Hathaway in 1998. Because the CFTC has denied the existence of a COMEX silver manipulation since 1986, it has painted itself into the corner no matter what the evidence may be. For the agency to now admit that silver has been manipulated in price would be tantamount to admitting it obstructed justice for decades. That’s not going to happen.
It’s not just the CFTC that has dug in its heels in ever moving against the COMEX silver manipulation. It’s also the CME Group, which owns and operates the COMEX, where the silver manipulation fraud is carried out. Were the CME to move against the silver manipulation, not only would it be depriving itself of many millions of dollars in trading revenue, it would be opening itself up to endless lawsuits for allowing the fraud to continue. The leading beneficiary of the COMEX silver manipulation, JPMorgan, has made billions of dollars in illicit trading profits since it became the leading short seller in COMEX silver futures on its takeover of Bear Stearns ten years ago and has used its suppression of prices to amass 700 million ounces of actual metal on the cheap. Does anyone think for a moment that JPM would admit to manipulating prices?
At Theranos, a relative handful of inside investors attempted to keep the fraud in the dark. With the COMEX silver fraud, the list of those keeping the real facts in the dark is a mile long. Pitted against the insiders intent on keeping the COMEX silver fraud in the dark are mining companies and silver investors, the vast majority of which don’t have a clue about the fraud. In this group are those who denied the silver manipulation early on and can’t face up to admitting they were wrong even as compelling new data proving fraud roll in. The surest proof of the COMEX silver manipulation fraud is the refusal of the insiders to openly discuss it. The CFTC refuses to answer or refute allegations, like JPMorgan never taking a loss in shorting COMEX silver and the fact that JPM has been the leading short seller while amassing more physical silver than any entity in history. And JPMorgan and the CME Group are so intent on keeping the real facts under wraps that both shrug off public allegations of criminal behavior that would normally bring charges of libel and slander were the allegations not true. Let me be clear, both JPMorgan and the CME Group are stone-cold crooks when it comes to silver.
Ted Butler
May 31, 2018
About the author
The fight for free and fair pricing in the precious metals lost a longtime advocate with the passing of Ted Butler. Few have fought against the bullion banks as vigorously as Ted, and now we must continue the battle in his honor.
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