CFTC: Flawed Silver Investigations and Breaking The Law

Bix Weir

OPEN LETTER TO THE CFTC

February 16, 2012
Commodities Futures Trading Commission
3 Lafayette Center
1155 21st St. NW Washington, DC 50581
Re: Flawed Investigations and Breaking The Law
Dear Commissioners:
For over 2 decades a large group of silver investors have been yelling and screaming at the CFTC to stop the rampant downward manipulation of the COMEX silver market. On May 14, 2004 the CFTC released the results of their 1st investigation by Michael Gorham, Director of Market Oversight, saying they have not found any evidence of silver market manipulation.
http://www.cpmgroup.com/free_library1/COUNTER-ARGUMENTS_TO_SILVER_CONSPIRACY_THEORIES/CFTC_Silver_Letter_May_2004.pdf
Dr. Gorham, who once worked at the Federal Reserve Bank, resigned only 3 weeks after releasing this report:
http://www.cftc.gov/opa/press04/opa4935-04.htm
As a truly REMARKABLE twist of fate, or not, Mr. Gorham now serves on the Probable Cause and Business Conduct Committees of the CME who were supposed to be overseeing MF Global before it imploded:
http://www.marketswiki.com/mwiki/Michael_Gorham
Then in May 2008 the CFTC released another report on the same topic again stating again that the silver market was not being manipulated. This time the CFTC decided NOT to put anyone's name on the report:
http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@newsroom/documents/file/silverfuturesmarketreport0508.pdf
This report piggy backed off the 2004 report in reinforcing the main argument why there was no manipulation in the silver market...
"Staff in 2004 also examined the relationship between NYMEX silver futures prices and cash market silver prices to determine whether NYMEX prices appeared to be unusually or significantly out of line with cash prices."
"NYMEX silver futures prices tend to track closely the price of physical silver...This analysis shows that there is not a downward bias in the NYMEX futures price vis-a-vis the LBMA price, which, as noted, is widely regarded as the benchmark value in the marketplace."
In BOTH reports the CFTC cites the "cash prices" as the prices for silver on the London Bullion Market(LBMA). It is absolutely important that the NYMEX (COMEX) prices stay in line with the "cash prices" of silver otherwise it would prove that the futures and options trading was SETTING the price for physical silver which is illegal. The PROBLEM with the CFTC's analysis is that they are comparing the NYMEX prices to a massively flawed proxy for the price of physical silver.
I'd like to direct your attention to the CFTC hearing on the silver market manipulation issue. Jeffery Christian of the CPM Group points out clearly that the LBMA really has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE "PHYSICAL MARKET" IN SILVER.

MORE