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Buy Gold Bullion | How Safe Are Unallocated <b>Gold Bullion</b> Accounts? :: The Market <b>...</b> | News2Gold

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• How Safe Are Unallocated <b>Gold Bullion</b> Accounts? :: The Market <b>...</b>
• <b>Gold</b> & Silver <b>Bullion</b> - Ceylon Exchange
• <b>Gold</b>, Silver Post July Losses; US Mint <b>Bullion</b> Sales Tumble | Coin <b>...</b>
• "London Fix" <b>Gold</b> Rigging By <b>Bullion</b> Bank Exposed In Class Action <b>...</b>
• <b>Gold</b> Dips, Silver Eagle <b>Bullion</b> Coins Top 26 Million | Coin News
• <b>Gold bullion</b> fraud probe ramping up | Mining Australia

How Safe Are Unallocated <b>Gold Bullion</b> Accounts? :: The Market <b>...</b> Posted: 31 Jul 2014 10:44 AM PDT Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014 Jul 31, 2014 - 07:44 PM GMT By: Submissions Imagine you owned a small business. It's a retail store and you sell a physical product which lines the shelves. You need to keep a variety of different products to ensure that customers who enter your store have plenty of choice. Not only do you have to stock a range of goods, but you have to keep a lot of each on hand as customers often purchase in bulk, due to fluctuating prices (they may buy large quantities when they believe it is well priced). As the store owner you have to hedge your exposure to the fluctuating price of the product you keep on hand to reduce the chance of getting caught on the wrong side of a price swing, this adds further complexity to managing your inventory. The products you sell are expensive, this is no $2 store where your entire inventory only totals a few thousand dollars, almost all of your products cost over $20 each and up to $44,000 or more, remembering that you have to keep multiple of each in stock for those customers who want to purchase in bulk. The worst of it is you can only charge a small mark-up on the products (over cost price), otherwise your customers will go elsewhere. Obviously the capital you need for running this store will be substantial. Likely to be in the millions of dollars. Now imagine there was a way to offer such a wide selection of expensive products, but have your customers fund the capital costs to do so… sounds too good to be true?! They will essentially pre-purchase your stock (allowing them to lock in the price they want), which provides substantial capital for putting product on your shelves. The customer can come in and use their store credit to make a purchase from your product range and take delivery at a time of their choosing. All you have to do as the store owner is promise your customers that you won't take more funds from them than you have product on your shelves. …you've probably worked out by now that I'm talking about the challenges faced by a bullion dealer. I have a lot of respect for those in the industry, it's a cut-throat business with small margins and high volumes, lots of regulations to abide by and is littered with risks. However, as a consumer of their services, I have to think about the safety of my own capital first. The solution I talk about above, where the customer can provide capital for stocking a larger product range, is unallocated bullion accounts. Unallocated accounts have become a popular offering from bullion dealers in Australia over the last few years, I suspect this is partially a result of an increase in the number of bullion dealers trading and also boosted by the closure of new funds to Perth Mint's Unallocated Accounts (March 2011). The advance in functionality of bullion dealers online stores means the process to buy unallocated metal today is very easy, sign up an account, hit the buy button and transfer the money to the dealer's bank account. There are some benefits for a customer purchasing unallocated metal (as opposed to taking delivery of physical). There's generally no cost charged for storage, the premium (over spot) charged will be lower allowing exposure to a larger number of ounces (e.g. $5000 buys 192 1 ounce silver coins at $26/oz, but buys 208 ounces of unallocated Silver at $24/oz), you don't have to pay for delivery and it's easier to trade (for example a dealer may offer Gold:Silver Ratio swaps or to buy it back at the click of a button). I have used unallocated accounts from two Australian bullion dealers in the past and may do so in the future, but I manage the risk by limiting my exposure to an amount I'd feel comfortable losing (the same amount that I'd risk placing any single order with a dealer). This brings me to the problem I have with unallocated accounts. One of the reasons I own precious metals is that they have a lower level of counter-party risk compared with traditional assets such as shares. Buying precious metals in unallocated form potentially exposes the client to the solvency of the company offering the service, which is counterproductive to the reasons I hold precious metals. The ownership (title) of the bullion in an unallocated account is a grey area and will likely differ depending on the specific setup for each dealer. I've had it explained that some bullion dealers in Australia have structured their unallocated products so that the client retains ownership of the metal in the event of bankruptcy, but I'm not an accountant or lawyer, so even if I was shown 'proof' of these claims I'd not trust myself to be confident that was definitely the case. I haven't seen any bullion dealer with a Product Disclosure Statement on their website outlining the offer, ownership structure, how the metal is treated and risks, most of them provide little more than a few sentences describing their unallocated products. After reading the above you may be wondering how likely is the collapse of a well established bullion dealer offering an unallocated product? It's not something that has occurred very often, the last recorded instance that I've been made aware of was back in 1996 with the collapse of "Perth Bullion Exchange" (of Sydney, not to be confused with any current trading entities with similar names). This particular case was highlighted in a Sunday Mail article where a couple had written to "The Fixer". They had purchased 20 bars of silver bullion totaling $12,900 (in 1993-1994) for which they had certificates showing ownership and when they went to redeem their metal in 1998 the business had vanished. The Fixer managed to track down the bankruptcy proceedings and the couple supposedly got around half their money back following the sale of the companies assets:   Perth Bullion Exchange had been trading for some 18 years at the time of their bankruptcy (via records of the bankruptcy proceedings). Over those years they had offered various services that would be comparable to some unallocated accounts today (keeping in mind that all dealers do things a little differently). Early on their certificates of ownership stated that "THE ABOVE INGOT IS BEING STORED BY THIS EXCHANGE - FULLY COVERED BY INSURANCE AND FREE OF STORAGE CHARGE UNTIL REQUIRED", other customers had received notification that "The Perth Bullion Exchange agrees to store these ingots free of charge under the best security available on the condition that we may use the physical bullion in the normal course of our business". As prices for bullion fell and the bankrupt's business deteriorated, the owner progressively sold all his stock of bullion. At the date of the sequestration order, the bankrupt was in possession of various giftware, jewellery, fixtures and fittings (but no bullion). There was little warning of Perth Bullion Exchange's demise, in fact just several months prior the Sydney Morning Herald ran a positive article (read in full here) on the company describing a proprietor who was interested in floating the company publicly:   Another example, this time in New Zealand, was that of Goldcorp Exchange Ltd, Wikipedia summarises: Goldcorp Exchange Ltd had a business of holding gold reserves in coins and ingots for customers wishing to invest in gold. Some gold was held for customers, but the levels varied from time to time. The company's employees also told customers that the company would maintain a separate and sufficient stock of each type of bullion to meet their demands, but in fact it did not. The Bank of New Zealand on 11 July 1988, being owed money by Goldcorp Exchange Ltd, petitioned for the business to be wound up. It transpired that Goldcorp had not held anywhere near enough money for the members of the public, around 1000 people, who had supposedly bought gold with it, even though in their contracts they were entitled to delivery of the gold (in 7 days, for a fee) if they wished. The company also lacked enough assets to satisfy the debts to the bank. The members of the public alleged that the gold that remained in stock was entrusted to them. The bank argued that because the gold stocks had never been isolated, it did not, that all the gold customers were unsecured creditors and that its security interest (a floating charge) took priority. In this case, there was Gold remaining in stock at the time of their bankruptcy but the title of the metal hadn't been structured to verify ownership by the clients holding unallocated accounts. An early brochure read "Basically you agree to buy metal at the prevailing market rate and a paper transaction takes place. [The company] is responsible for storing and insuring your metal free of charge and you are given a 'Non-Allocated invoice' which verifies your ownership of the metal. In the case of gold or silver, physical delivery can be taken upon seven days notice and payment of nominal delivery charges." (via records of the bankruptcy proceeding), but the judgement was made: The Privy Council advised that the customers had no property interest in the gold, and therefore the bank could use it to satisfy its debts. The customers' purchase contracts did not transfer title, because which gold specifically was to be sold was not yet certain. Although Goldcorp's brochures had promised title, a trust did not arise because there was no declaration of it. It was contrary to policy to imply a fiduciary duty simply because there was a breach of contract. It was also rejected that equity required any restitution of the purchase money. Both of these examples are very dated. One might look at these precedents and think that recurrence is unlikely today. However, my current concern lies with the recent revelation of missing Gold and suspected tax fraud occurring as previously covered on this site in my article 'ATO & AFP Investigate Australian Gold Industry Fraud'. I don't know what will come of this investigation and those companies named in the exposé by Chris Vedelago, but the potential for some of them to suffer losses (or potentially worse) as a result of these events seems worthy of consideration. As far as I know ATO garnishee notices take priority over other creditors, so unlike the New Zealand case detailed above, you'd want to be sure that the customer ownership of any metal in unallocated accounts was air tight if you have a substantial holding in this form. This article was not written with the intent to panic those investors with unallocated accounts, but simply to draw attention to the risks associated with having another party store your precious metals. In the case of outright theft of customer metal, which seems to be what occurred in the case of Perth Bullion Exchange, allocated accounts aren't completely safe either. However, even if bullion dealers offering unallocated accounts do everything by the book and are a reputable long-standing business, they may inadvertently expose themselves to external risks that put their company and the unallocated accounts of their clients at risk. I said in another recent article '7 Ways To Keep Your Gold And Silver Safe' that "there is no completely risk free way to own precious metals, as is the case with any other investment", it's just a matter of assessing the risks of the various options available and judging for yourself which you think is safest.   Bullion Baron An Australian blogger (BullionBaron.com) & tweeting (;@BullionBaron) on various topics including precious metals, finance, property & the monetary system. A rational gold bug who seeks the truth (wherever that may lead), while attempting to avoid unverifiable conspiratorial content. The above article originally published here: http://www.bullionbaron.com/2014/07/how-safe-are-unallocated-bullion.html © 2014 Copyright  Bullion Baron - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. © 2005-2014 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in

<b>Gold</b> & Silver <b>Bullion</b> - Ceylon Exchange Posted: 25 Jun 2013 08:00 PM PDT Secure Your Wealth with Pure Gold & Silver Bullion today! Ceylon Exchange is an authorised distributor for Perth Mint, a Western Australian Mint that distributes platinum, silver and gold coins for collections and customers worldwide. All of our bullion products are stamped for their purity and are GST free. What is a Bullion? Bullion is a mass of precious metal kept as a store of value or investment. Why Buy Gold or Silver Bullion? - Gold and Silver are physical stores of wealth. - It can easily be converted to cash whenever you need it - Gold and Silver can grow in capital value over time - Investment grade bullion is GST free so there is no loss to tax when you make a purchase Secure your Wealth with Pure Gold and Silver Bullion today!   *Please note that the information found above is general in nature. Nothing should be taken as personal investment advice. One should consult a professional advisor before making any investment decisions.

<b>Gold</b>, Silver Post July Losses; US Mint <b>Bullion</b> Sales Tumble | Coin <b>...</b> Posted: 31 Jul 2014 03:20 PM PDT Gold and silver prices plunged in July, as did sales of US Mint bullion coins Gold fell to a six-week low Thursday, dropping for a third straight session, driving further below $1,300 an ounce, and logging a 3% monthly decline. Gold for December delivery lost $14.10, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,282.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the lowest since June 19. Among factors cited for losses were a stronger U.S. dollar and a view that interest rates may rise sooner than expected. Gold market bulls were disappointed that a big sell off in the U.S. stock market Thursday, amid some ongoing geopolitical worries, did not help gold's cause at all. Instead traders focused on the bearish aspects of some better-than-expected U.S. economic data this week," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report Thursday. "The stronger U.S. data falls into the camp of the U.S. monetary policy hawks who want to see interest rates rise sooner rather than later. It bears repeating, however, that an accelerating U.S. economic recovery raises the stakes for problematic price inflation down the road — and that's gold-market bullish," Wyckoff added." Gold has gained 6.7% for the year so far even as prices have fallen in four of the last five months. Silver, Platinum and Palladium Futures Silver for September delivery slid 19 cents, or 0.9%, to close at $20.41 an ounce. Silver prices traded 3.1% lower in July but have advanced 5.4% for the year-to-date. In rounding out the precious metals complex for Thursday and the month: October platinum declined $16.70, or 1.1%, to $1,465.20 an ounce, registering a 1.2% loss in July. Palladium for September shed $6.45, or 0.7%, to $873.70 an ounce, yet jumped 3.6% for the month. On the year so far, platinum has gained 6.7% and palladium has soared 21.6%. London Fix Precious Metals Earlier fixed London precious metals split on Thursday and in July. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM: Gold turned down $9.25, or 0.7%, to $1,285.25 an ounce, Silver advanced 15 cents, or 0.7%, to $20.69 an ounce, Platinum lost $8, or 0.5%, to $1,472 an ounce, and Palladium edged up $2, or 0.2%, to $880 an ounce London palladium capped its monthly increase at 4.3%. The other precious metals fixings logged July declines totaling 2.3% for gold, 0.9% for silver and 0.5% for platinum. US Mint Bullion Sales in July July is a typically slower month for bullion coins but demand was exceptionally weak this month. U.S. Mint bullion sales are yet to officially close for July, although figures are not expected to change. CoinNews.net will publish a more detailed analysis later, but in summary: American Eagle gold coins gained 30,000 ounces in July after sales of 48,500 ounces in June. The monthly amount is the second lowest this year, behind sales of 21,000 ounces in March. 2014 sales now total 296,000 ounces, well lower than the 679,500 ounces sold during the first seven months of 2013. 2014 American Eagle silver coins advanced 1,975,000, the first sub-2 million month since December when the 2013-dated Silver Eagles sold out on Dec. 10. Sales have slowed sharply in the last 10 weeks after several record-pace months. Silver Eagle sales for the year are at 26,103,500, which is still the second highest tally at this point. Last year when the annual American Silver Eagle sales record was set at above 42.6 million, the coins reached 29,450,000 in the January to July period. Over 4.4 million were sold in July 2013 alone. American Buffalo gold coins rose 5,500 for the month versus 16,000 in June. The total is the weakest since sales of 4,000 coins in July 2012. 2014 America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins rose 2,000 in July after gaining 21,400 in June when sales kicked off the for coin honoring Arches National Park in Utah. American Platinum Eagle coins were flat in July after rising 700 in June. The platinum coin is in its 18th full week of release following a five-year hiatus. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Thursday, last week, this week so far, last month, this month, and the year to date. American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) Thursday Sales Sales Last Week Current Sales Week June Sales July Sales YTD Sales $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins 0 0 0 700 0 12,900 $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 3,000 1,500 43,000 26,000 224,500 $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 0 0 2,000 0 27,000 $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 2,000 0 4,000 6,000 78,000 $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 5,000 0 35,000 25,000 385,000 $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins 0 1,500 0 16,000 5,500 117,000 $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins 50,000 615,000 335,000 2,692,000 1,975,000 26,103,500 Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 500 0 2,000 500 29,500 Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 0 0 900 0 20,000 Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 0 0 18,500 1,500 20,000

"London Fix" <b>Gold</b> Rigging By <b>Bullion</b> Bank Exposed In Class Action <b>...</b> Posted: 26 Jul 2014 05:00 PM PDT Some interesting news crossed the tape late afternoon yesterday when it was reported that the silver bullion banks (Deutsche Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC) were sued for manipulating the silver fix in a class-action lawsuit. However, a closer look reveals that the plaintff in the lawsuit, J. Scott Nicholson, has a recurring bone to pick with the banks as this is certainly not his first lawsuit alleging precious metals rigging, and as such we are convinced it will be tossed out shortly, along with every other lawsuit alleging a manipulated precious metals market since discovery could lead to some very unpleasant revelations about the primary source of gold and silver rigging: the central banks themselves, alongside the BIS. Instead, we uncovered something that was missed several few weeks earlier: a far more informative and detailed class action lawsuit filed by Edward Derksen on July 9, 2014 against the London gold fix member banks: Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, Deutsche, HSBC and SocGen (profiled here in From Rothschild To Koch Industries: Meet The People Who "Fix" The Price Of Gold). Recall from "How Gold Price Is Manipulated During The "London Fix"" that this was one of the first conspiracy theories about gold manipulation to end with a bank, and following the official revelation (as opposed to merely on the pages of fringe blogs) that over 100 years the price of gold was consistently manipulated during the London fix (and during every other period as well but that is a revelation for a different time) the very process of the Gold and Silver Fix itself was finally ended (only to be replaced with a comparable process run by the very same people who manipulated gold and silver from Rothschild's London office on St. Swithin's Lane for decades. The short and sweet summary of the lawsuit: "Plaintiff alleges that from approximately January 1, 2004 to the present, Defendants manipulate the prices of gold and gold derivatives contracts on their own and combined, conspired, and agreed with one another and unnamed co-conspirators to manipulate the prices of gold and gold derivatives contracts. This agreement was intended to permit each Defendant individually and all Defendants collectively to reap profits from their foreknowledge of price movements in the gold market." Nothing new there, but while the allegations in the lawsuit are well-known to frequent (and all other) readers of Zero Hedge, we recommend reading the full filing as it explains in clear English just what the fixing process worked. Perhaps what is more interesting are the abnormalities in the price of gold as highlighted by Derksen, which clearly show the critical role the daily fix has in the manipulation of the price of gold, both in a downward and upward direction: whichever suits the London Fix member banks. Here are some of the highlights: The following chart of average intraday gold price shows the same strong relationship between the physical gold and the COMEX gold futures markets. Anomalous price movements during the fixing window that are highly suggestive of manipulation - like those on June 28, 2012 - can be witnessed on numerous days, where prices near the 3 p.m. London Fix spike, either upward or downward, and then retreat in the opposite direction as the price is "fixed". Five trading days are analyzed below as illustrative of the overall trend during the Class Period. On February 1, 2013, there was a dramatic drop in price from nearly $1678 to below $1665, contemporaneous with the beginning of the London Fix. The price began recovering during the London Fix and continued  afterwards. This movement around the fixing window is highly anomalous and suggestive of manipulation because it tends to show that the market ultimately discounted to some degree the pricing information that occurred during the London Fix. On January 4, 2012, there was anomalous price movement before the beginning of the PM Fix call, this time in an upward direction. The gold price rose from below $1599 to more than $1614 within the half hour before the beginning of the call, only to surrender most of these gains within the half hour following the call. This movement around the fixing window (steep rise just before the call, with a clear reversal that begins at the very beginning of the call) is highly anomalous and suggestive of manipulation because it tends to show that the market ultimately discounted to some degree the pricing information that occurred during the London Fix. On May 21, 2013, the gold price declined significantly in the 25 minutes prior to the call only to recovery briskly once the call ended. This movement around the fixing window is highly anomalous and suggestive of manipulation because it tends to show that the market ultimately discounted to some degree the pricing information that occurred during the Fix The punchline: If the five previous examples of anomalous volatility around the London Fix mere statistical outliers and not evidence of manipulation, then it would be expected that this volatility would disappear when looking at an average of all the trading days during the class period. To the contrary, the price manipulation actually becomes clearer when viewed over the past fifteen years. The chart below shows the change in physical gold prices if each trading day for the period from 1998 through 2013 were averaged together. The dramatic changes in price followed by swift reversals at the time of the AM and PM London Fix in this chart demonstrate that the phenomenon is not coincidental statistical noise occurring on only a few cherry-picked dates, but rather is a clear trend that cannot be explained by chance. And the logical continuation: The table below illustrates that price moves of statistically anomalous size during the London Fix occurred with great frequency. If these London Fix price moves were the result of natural market forces, it would be expected that those price moves would be either maintained or reversed with the same statistical regularity as any other price move observed during the trading day. If it were manipulation that caused the London Fix price moves, these moves would be reversed with greater frequency than expected because the manipulators must reverse their trade in order to book a profit and because legitimate market factors would ultimately cause some degree of discounting of the pricing information from the London Fix. Sure enough, statistically anomalous price reversals after the London Fix, of the price changes during the London Fix, occurred with enough regularity to indicate manipulative activity. The chart below demonstrates from 1998-2013 the rate of "forecast error" – a square of the difference between predicted market moves based on econometrics and the market's actual moves. These forecast errors hit a massive peak during the brief period that is encompassed by the 3 p.m. London Fix. Appendix B contains charts of forecast errors broken down by year. This is contrary to what should occur in a market free of manipulation. Ok, gold was manipulated. But it must have been manipulated up as well as down, so in effect the two would offset each other right? Wrong! Although the London Fix was associated with both manipulative and abnormal increases and decreases in gold prices, the London Fix appears, in the aggregate, to have had a net negative effect overall on the price of gold throughout the Class Period. This can be demonstrated by examining the price of gold during the part of the trading day closest to the London Fixes. Gold is traded 24 hours a day. The trading day for gold can be broken up into three equal eight-hour periods, the "Fixing Period" from 8:00-16:00 London Time in which both the AM and PM London Fixes occur, the "Pre-Fix Period" from 0:00-8:00 and the "Post Fix Period" from 16:00-24:00 London time. If the volatility surrounding the London Fix was purely random and not the result of manipulation, there would be no significant difference over time between the period containing the London Fixes (8:00-16:00) and the Pre-Fix and Post-Fix periods. However, as the chart below demonstrates, gold prices during the Fixing Period (8:00-16:00) moved consistently lower over time when compared to price activity during Pre-Fix and Post-Fix portions of the trading day. This trading pattern is consistent with manipulation and cannot be explained by random variation. Why do it? As shown above, the manipulation detailed herein both artificially inflated and artificially suppressed the price of gold, injuring both long and short holders of gold futures and options contracts. To the extent the aggregate trend has been to suppress prices,this has resulted in (as of the last available "This Month in Gold Futures Market" Report from the CFTC44) an extraordinarily positive result for Commercial Traders in gold futures contracts (who held between 352,500 and 381,200 short futures contracts, as opposed to merely 140,900 to 145,100 long futures contracts in the same period. This heavy weight toward shorting gold futures contracts means a net drop in gold prices would be extremely lucrative for commercial traders. "Commercial" Traders are entities, such as Defendants, that use futures or options for hedging purposes, as opposed to "non-commercial" entities that do not own the underlying asset or its financial equivalent and hold only derivatives contracts. Most importantly, it is no longer just some tinfoil goldbug making manipulation allegations: the very head of Germany's BaFIN regulator agrees: Plaintiff did not discover, and could not have reasonably discovered through the exercise of reasonable diligence, the wrongdoing discussed in this complaint, until, at the very earliest, January 2014, when Defendant DB withdrew from the fixing after interviews with Bafin, Germany's financial regulator. Before the DB departure was announced and Bafin's president revealed the seriousness of the allegations, Plaintiff could not have stated facts plausibly stating the conspiracy to manipulate the price of gold and gold derivatives. The activity Defendants undertook was of a self-concealing nature. The London Fix teleconference is not publicly-accessible. The information Defendants received from their clients about the demand for purchases and sales of gold before and during the teleconference were not publicly-accessible. Without these pieces of information, Plaintiff would not be able to discern market dislocation or the existence of spoof trades. In summary, the lawsuit's conclusions are as follows: The price activity surrounding the London Fixes is indicative of manipulation and not natural market forces for the following reasons: a. Around the period of the London Fix calls, gold prices experience anomalous volatility in price. b. This volatility is present not on isolated trading days but manifests even more clearly when averaged across years of trade data. c. The anomalous price changes during the call were not maintained afterwards, but in fact were in some part reversed with an unusual frequency and to an anomalous degree. d. The anomalous price moves occurred during peaks in trading volume, when the market should be at its most efficient. e. The pricing anomalies strengthened in intensity over time, demonstrating that they are not an inevitable result of an innocent fixing process. f. There were upward and downward manipulations over a period of years, price activity surrounding the London Fix periods had a net negative effect on gold prices in comparison to other periods. This tends to indicate that artificial forces were acting on the market during those periods. g. Trading activity during immediately after the beginning of the London Fix was highly predictive of activity during the rest of the call, and of the final London Fix price, suggesting that manipulative traders were moving the prices of gold based on information gleaned for the London Fix calls. h. The price activity surrounding the London Fixes is not typical of the price activity one would expect to attend a regularly scheduled announcement of news material to the gold market. i. The anomalous price activity in the gold market is not mirrored by other precious metals or broader market indices, further eliminating innocent explanations and supporting a conclusion that manipulation occurred. There is much more in the full lawsuit which can be read in its entirety below. The complete chart data is showin in Appendix A and B. Average: Your rating: None Average: 5 (26 votes)

<b>Gold</b> Dips, Silver Eagle <b>Bullion</b> Coins Top 26 Million | Coin News Posted: 30 Jul 2014 12:48 PM PDT U.S. Mint Silver Eagle bullion coins moved above 26 million for the year Gold ended lower for a second consecutive session Wednesday with prices now poised for an almost 2% monthly decline. Gold for December delivery — the new most active contract — fell $3.60, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,296.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Investor interest has waned while other asset classes deliver much stronger returns, namely equity markets," Morgan Stanley analysts including Joel Crane wrote in a report today, according to Bloomberg News. "We are cognizant sentiment surrounding gold is likely to remain relatively volatile in the face of continued geopolitical instability and extension of consensus views over the timing of the U.S. interest rate tightening cycle." Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,293.20 to a high of $1,305.20. Gold lost $5, or 0.4%, on Tuesday. Silver for September delivery added a penny to end at $20.60 an ounce. Silver prices traded from $20.48 to $20.76. They inched up 2 cents in the previous session. In rounding out the precious metals complex: October platinum shed $2.60, or 0.2%, to $1,481.90 an ounce, trading between $1,478.30 and $1,488.10. Palladium for September turned up $1.85, or 0.2%, to $880.15 an ounce, ranging between $877.10 and $883.25. London Fix Precious Metals Earlier fixed London precious metals declined. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM: Gold fell $4.75, or 0.4%, to $1,294.50 an ounce, Silver dipped 10 cents, or 0.5%, to $20.54 an ounce, Platinum lost $5, or 0.3%, to $1,480 an ounce, and Palladium declined $6, or 0.7%, to $878 an ounce US Mint Bullion Sales in July United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday as of 3:17 PM ET, but American Silver Eagles advanced by 260,000 in the later hours on Tuesday. The gain lifted Silver Eagle sales over 26 million for the year, maintaining a pace that is the second quickest in the coin's 29-year history. Silver Eagle sales in record year 2013 had topped 29 million through the first seven months. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, this week so far, last month, the month to date, and the year to date. American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) Wednesday Sales Sales Last Week Current Sales Week June Sales July Sales YTD Sales $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins 0 0 0 700 0 12,900 $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 3,000 1,500 43,000 26,000 224,500 $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 0 0 2,000 0 27,000 $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 2,000 0 4,000 6,000 78,000 $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins 0 5,000 0 35,000 25,000 385,000 $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins 0 1,500 0 16,000 5,500 117,000 $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins 0 615,000 285,000 2,692,000 1,925,000 26,053,500 Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 500 0 2,000 500 29,500 Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 0 0 900 0 20,000 Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins 0 0 0 18,500 1,500 20,000

<b>Gold bullion</b> fraud probe ramping up | Mining Australia Posted: 14 Jul 2014 05:37 PM PDT Thank you, you are now logged in. x Latest from Features Potosi Mine: One of the world's most dangerous mine in pictures [images] US and Canada bring in 'responsible mining' standards Environmentalists have a right to protest – but not at all costs What should we do with Australia's 50,000 abandoned mines? Finding a FIFO FORMULA Documents filed in two civil lawsuits in Queensland's Supreme Court have identified individuals believed to have participated in one of Australia's largest organised tax frauds, involving millions in illegal gold bullion sales. On October 30, 2013, the Australian Federal Police reported that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Federal Police had executed search warrants on premises associated with companies operating in the gold bullion and precious metals industries. Federal investigators said the scam involved altering or mislabeling pure gold bullion bars and coins — which are legally not taxed — as lesser-quality or scrap gold, which is taxed at 10%, to claim at fake Good and Service Tax (GST) tax credit, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The investigation was part of the work undertaken by the joint-agency Criminal Asset Confiscation Taskforce (CACT). As a result of the investigation, the ATO has issued garnishee notices and GST amended assessments with liabilities of more than A$130 million. "The sheer amount of money involved in this matter and the activity undertaken to disguise its movement means we are treating this as an organised criminal activity," AFP manager criminal assets commander Matt Rippon said . However, the ATO has refused to disclose the identity of companies and individuals facing criminal investigations and tax audits.  "We have not recovered all of the $65 million and continue to work for the remainder," a spokesman told the SMH. The newspaper reported more than a dozen raids have taken place in two states. The ATO has publicly estimated the scam cost taxpayers more than A$65 million, "but industry sources have put the final costs at potentially more than $200 million in faked and misappropriated GST payments," said the newspaper. In an affidavit filed with Queensland's Supreme Court, Brisbane Gold Trader Robert Bourke claimed to be a middleman in a network of gold suppliers, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.  Bourke said his involvement began after he started doing business with MAK Precious Metals of Melbourne. Bourke alleged he sourced and transported dozens — sometimes hundreds — of kilos of gold weekly. MAK also reportedly bought gold from other sources including bullion gold dealer Rocco De Gonza. Bourke claimed that MAK founder Michael Kukula told Bourke that his industry buyer of the bullion was New South Wales precious metals refinery EBS & Associates. EBS is an official refiner for the Royal Australian Mint and a manufacturer of investment grade gold products. In late 2013, Bourke's ability to buy gold faltered as his company began defaulting on bills for gold bought on credit, court documents stated.  Queensland's Ainslie Bullion Company sold Bourke $10.1 million in gold, but received only $1.2 million in payment. The bullion company filed a lawsuit seeking a freezing against Bourke, MAK and EBS. In turn, Bourke sued MAK claiming he was owed more than $11.3 million. Bourke's gold trading business collapsed in April, with suppliers and investors owed $20 million in gold and cash, said the newspaper. The lawsuits filed by Bourke and Ainslie Bullion Company have been dismissed on technicalities. This article appears courtesy of Mine Web. To read more daily international and mining finance news click here.

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