the importance of knowing the source, from my friends at GATA ... On Martin Armstrong’s Latest Commentary Bill Murphy Responding to what Martin Armstrong wrote yesterday could easily become an opus and it is not worth going into to that degree, but the man has quite the following again and there are some issues which ought to be addressed. First, some background that has to do with Armstrong and GATA in a piece written by Rob Kirby in 2010 titled: The Genesis of the Gold Tungsten: The Rest of the Story.… 1995 is the year that gold leasing TOOK-OFF GLOBALLY. We know this due to the historical record of communication between Frank Veneroso and Terry Smeeton [from the Bank of England]; I [Frank Veneroso] started out on this crazy voyage with a statement that was made by a man from the Bank of England---Mr. Terry Smeeton---who was in charge of the gold operations of the Bank of England. On something like November 21st or 22nd of 1995 at the 5th Annual Banking Conference in the city of London, he addressed the issue of gold lending. He gave some statistics. He basically said that gold lending had roughly doubled over the last year and a half. Precisely, what he said was that gold loans more than doubled and gold swaps increased by more than 50%. Edmond Safra: Gold Was His Specialty Edmond Safra gradually built his banking empire at a prodigious pace. Gold was his specialty. He handled all the South African gold, the Russian gold, and several nations’ gold reserves. He single-handedly established the Eurodollar market so that Russian companies can hold their dollar reserves without fear of confiscation. His clientele was his main secret, and in the 1990s he may have controlled one trillion dollars. Edmond Safra’s Republic Bank of New York [no stranger to the clandestine precious metal trade], among others, were likely involved in facilitating the movement of ‘fake gold’. Safra, who had some 10 body guards, was found dead under extremely dubious circumstances in his Monaco condo on Dec. 3, 1999. Coincidentally, HSBC [a serial gold and precious metals futures shorter] now owns the former Republic Bank gold business. Safra and Martin Armstrong / Princeton Economics were confidants and business associates. To this end, there is a distinct Safra / Martin Armstrong nexus to this sordid story too: Armstrong was arrested Sept. 13 [1999] and charged with massive securities fraud by the U.S. Attorneys Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was jailed for contempt of court on Jan. 14, 2000. Excerpts of notes from GATA Chairman Bill Murphy’s Jan. 2000 phone conversation with Martin Armstrong: My [Bill Murphy’s] phone conversation with Armstrong touched on many subjects. I mostly just listened -- my mouth wide open most of the time, as the conversation centered around such subjects as Armstrongs receiving death threats from the Japanese, the billionaires club that manipulates the metals markets, incriminating Republic Bank tapes, bribes paid in Thailand, the Japanese and Republic Bank, the persecution of his family, including his 81-year-old mother, and the efforts of the U.S Attorneys office efforts to deprive him of his First and Fifth Amendment rights. The scariest part of the conversation was about Edmond Safra, the recently murdered Republic Bank founder. Marty knew which phone lines that Safra spoke on directly to the Republic traders. According to Armstrong, All the conversations about every manipulation you ever wanted to hear are there. He said that the problem was that 10 days after he told the feds that he was after sensitive information that would expose the manipulations, Safra died mysteriously in Monaco.…… He [Armstrong] told us that he could provide evidence (tapes and documents) that the metals markets in New York have been manipulated. Armstrong had revealed to federal authorities his knowledge that Safra had made tapes detailing gold market manipulation. 10 Days later Safra was dead. One can only wonder if tapes made by Safra, which Armstrong admitted to the Feds he knew about, led to Safra’s demise and Armstrong’s otherwise inexplicable incarceration. According to revelations made by GATA’s Bill Murphy - Armstrong had claimed he had access to these [Safra’s] tapes. In further correspondence from Armstrong [then in jail] to Chris Powell, GATA Secretary and Treasurer, it was revealed exactly how determined [afraid perhaps?] the U.S. Government was by preventing Armstrong from having his day in court [presumably, where taped evidence from Safra / Republic New York might surface]: Still alive so far. I will speak to my lawyer to see if early next week is OK for a meeting. One of our clients has sued Republic and we are unofficially cooperating together to try to get additional discovery. U.S. government has rushed in to try to stay our discovery. We are about to make a fight next week to try to force Republic [New York] to comply with our subpoenas. The bastards are hiding behind the U.S. government big-time. I am not sure what is going on. I have been told that the receiver is now going to try a contempt charge for my not handing in my keys despite the fact that the locks and security codes have been changed. They just dont want me out and about….. This explains why Armstrong ROTS in jail on trumped up charges to this day. It’s a WONDER he’s still alive. *** Coincidentally [if you believe in coincidences] GATA’s Bill Murphy subsequently had his car stolen in late March 2000 and was subsequently ‘mugged’ in the wee hours of April 2, 2000. -END- Then we have the following from goldchat.blogspot/2012/02/martin-armstrong-on-metals-manipulation.html 10 February 2012 Martin Armstrong on metals manipulation Below are some relevant extracts from Martin Armstrongs The Analytical Shill. The article is generally about how research and analysts are conflicted and how analysts and investors and gurus can be blinded by their biases. The paragraphs below are straight from the article and will jump around a bit because Ive just pasted them in order they appeared without all the extraneous stuff. Martin Armstrong: The metals were one favorite sector where they were constantly bullish – never bearish for 19 years. But hey, the market manipulators always needed cheer-leaders to get people to buy every high so they could sell. On the Buffett Silver Manipulation, it was PhiBro who had a shill call the Wall Street Journal and tell them I was trying to manipulate silver down because I was short. When the WSJ & I argued and they refused to print the name Buffett they demanded I give them, that forced the CFTC to act calling me to ask where was it taking place. I told them London and they called the Bank of England. When they in turn ordered all silver brokers to show up the next morning, Buffett was forced to come out and admit he bought $1 billion worth of silver but denied he was manipulating the price. You can ask the guys at GATA. They were well aware of the first 1993 Manipulation by PhiBro (Philips Brothers). They got in bed with Buffett when he stepped in to run Salomon Brothers after they got caught MANIPULATING the US Government bond auctions. They began buying silver and the CFTC stepped in demanding to know who their client was. Now if it had been anyone else, PhiBro’s reply was they refused to tell the name of the client. Forget the law. That does not apply to New York firms. The CFTC responded saying if they could not know who their client was, then PhilBro had to exist the trade. They did and of course made a fortune for the hawkers had all the little guys buy silver just in time for PhilBro to sell it to them. This is WHY the manipulations began to move to London. Not only did PhiBro try to get me on board, their broker walked across the floor and SHOWED my broker Buffett’s orders at the low! To create the fundamental, they moved inventory from New York to London. They were manipulating silver as always. Playing games with the inventories. They were moving silver from New York to London where the Buffett orders were being executed. This made the US warehouse inventories drop sharply. Go look at the analysts who talked silver up on that very fundamental. If they said there was a shortage of silver and you better buy it is going to $100, then you may be dealing with a shill or a biased analyst. Many of the metals analysts with an agenda back then hated my guts. How dare I say there was a manipulation when it was at last silver was going up instead of down. Now I was part of some covert conspiracy hell bent on suppressing the metals because I dared to say they are back (manipulators) and the target was $7 by January 1998. To this crowd, a manipulation is always to the downside and never up. Go check the recommendations of analysts back then. See where they stood. The best one I heard was silver was in demand in London because it was .9999 there instead of .999 in New York. GATA began to see the same nonsense that I did during the early 1990s. It was just that I saw the manipulations as being UNBIASED. In other words, they did not care what they manipulated as long as there was a guaranteed profit. They manipulated even base metals such as rhodium. They manipulated platinum in league with Russian politicians who strangely recalled all platinum to take an inventory. Hell, Ford Motor Company filed suit over that manipulation… -END- In another coincidence Martin Armstrong was released from prison in early September of 2011, right at the top of the gold market … after being visited by four members of Congress. Since that time MA has been building his business back up, with one of his prominent positions being short gold. Regarding his commentary at The Kiki Table, his response to this opening question says it all… QUESTION: … Will the day come that you will admit that the precious metals are currently suppressed in a massive way to the downside, especially the relatively small market of silver? Kind regards, HB ANSWER: Sorry – that day will never arrive. It is pure BS used to sell the metals. Look at it this way. WHY buy something that can never rise if these stories are true? It makes no sense whatsoever. I remain bullish long-term BECAUSE there is no such suppression. If there was, it cannot be a free market so write it off. *** Martin Armstrong sounds like Doug Casey. It doesn’t matter what evidence GATA’s Chris Powell presents about market manipulation by the central banks, BIS, etc., he will NEVER admit it is occurring. How ironic to have a man talk about market manipulation to that degree, but never admit that gold and silver are suppressed … again just what Doug Casey said in New Orleans. These two gentlemen are both infected with the Not Invented Here Syndrome, among other egotisical inflictions. There is no point getting into why the price of gold has been suppressed all these years, and never so much as of late, except to point out the gold price is the lynchpin to keeping the major financial markets under control. Lose control of the gold price, and the powers risk losing control of how the bond, dollar, and stock market behave, especially in the U.S. YOU know all of that. Martin Armstrong refuses to go there. Evidence be damned. It is laughable … A manipulation stands out because it is abnormal. Martin, you mean as in the silver Access Market openings in which the price opened lower 77 times in a row and 133 out of the last 138 times, as the price of silver has been punished as much as $8 below the cost of production for the average silver producer? As for making money, how much money do you think the bullion banks have made over the years by doing the central banks bidding and knowing when all out assaults are going to be made on the prices of gold and silver? How much money was made in the gold bludgeoning from $1900+ to $1132? … or from $49+ silver to $15+ silver? How much other money was made by coordinated attacks on the longs and flushing them out of their positions along the way? There is nothing wrong with the shorts making money, but when it is done in coordinated fashion, as we have documented over the last 16 years, it is an anti-trust violation, which is how GATA got started in the first place. It is supposed to be illegal. Without getting into a long diatribe on this subject so dear to our hearts, the Buffet/Phibro/silver comments by Armstrong are interesting to elaborate on … as they are revealing. First from a MIDAS commentary in January of 2002 with the price of gold at $287… Gold Trading Action Very Telling Awhile back I mentioned that we needed a couple of events to take place to signal that The Gold Cartel was in big trouble. The first was the breaking of the $2/two day rules they have had in place for at least 3 1/2 years. They have been broken, barely. The second was to see volatility emerge in the gold pits. The reason that is so important is it means that someone is taking on The Gold Cartel on the buy side. To rig the market the cabal must call on massive selling when they need it. On a daily basis, they only use as much selling as needed to control the price. A volatile market demonstrates that someone is challenging that selling on the buy side, so the trading action becomes choppy, or changes direction during the day. Without that big buying, The Gold Cartel just sits on the price, keeping the action as dull as possible. Today was exceptional, and probably pivotal. Gold was very strong early in the morning before the Bank of England joke of an auction, then was trashed when the rigged results were announced, and then charged right back up into Gold Cartel selling, finishing close to the highs of the day for the New York trading session. It was good buying too as the trade took on GOLDMAN SACHS, which probably was selling for the ESF. After only a few hours of trading, GS had sold 5,000 contracts to other bullion houses. Goldman was taking on all comers as they have done many times over the past 40 months. Perhaps other bullion dealers know the rig is about to end and are willing to take them on now. That is my guess. Why now you ask? Remember my Warren Buffet silver story? It was the one when he was chairman of Salomon Brothers in 1994. Phibro, which had taken over Salomon , was going to squeeze the silver market in 1994 under the direction of the savvy Jimmy DiPiazza. It was all over but the shouting match. DiPiazza had done his homework and had the silver squeeze all set up. Then, Buffet got a call from the U.S. Treasury. I think it was from Rubin, but not positive of that part of it. Rubin said that he had heard of Phibros intentions and calmly told Buffet that he would win the silver battle, but lose the financial war - meaning Rubin would sic the government all over Salomon, who was just emerging from a bond scandal and had all sorts of other problems at the time. End of silver squeeze, end of story. The point is that story got around to the big players in the financial markets. Word spread that you did not want to mess with the U.S. Government, or they would find a way to go after you. Times are changing as a result of the Enron mess. The U.S. Government has so many problems that will emerge from Enron, they cannot afford to be seen bullying players in the financial arena. Big hedge fund players know that and thus are willing to go after The Gold Cartel. If the gold rig/fraud is ending, batten down the hatches. We are within days, or weeks, of the biggest gold price explosion in history. And, few in the investment world will have a clue as to what is going on and why… -END- Then a further elaboration on the DiPiazza story in an email to Café member a number of years ago… Hello Dan, A number of veteran Café members will remember this one. Warren Buffet was running Salomon Brothers at the time. Phibro was a huge Connecticut trading house in both futures and physical markets. In the 1990’s, Jimmy DiPiazza was one of their two precious metals traders. Phibro put on a huge bet with $5.25 silver calls in order to squeeze the market. The market closed on option expiration day at $5.06. The writers of the calls breathed a sigh of relief … that is until Phibro exercised their rights to the calls. PANIC set in. The crooked shorts cried foul, but the law is the law. Well almost. Buffet got a call from our government and said they could continue with the trade, and then have Salomon be investigated in every manner imaginable by the government for the next five years, or exit the trade at a break even. Guess what avenue they took? Best Bill Points to make: *Armstrong remembers it as a call from the CFTC that ended the Phibro trade. My recall was that it was the Treasury. Either way it was our government interfering in the trade, and this was way back when. *Armstrong does not get into the 1997 silver spike engineered by Warren Buffet, who knew of the potential and vulnerability of the trade via his prior experience at Salomon. I remember it like it was yesterday because I was working with Frank Veneroso at the time. Guess who encouraged Buffet to exit that same trade again? No mention of this by Armstrong. Is it any wonder why Buffet has made some anti-gold comments over the years, just as he has supported firms like Goldman Sachs in times of financial crisis? *By the end of 2002 the price of gold was $348. Of note back then that a clue that gold was finally on its way to much higher levels was the breaking of the $2 Rule, which eventually became the $6 Rule, which then became the 1% Rule over the years. The breaking of The Gold Cartel rules has often been an indication we are going higher. The 2% Rule was broken on Friday. We shall see if this means anything if some of their other rules are broken this coming week. THAT will be the game changer and what we are looking for. A book can be written on all of this, and there will be many of them down the road when the gold/silver markets blow up. That’s enough for now. All the best, Bill Murphy A PS note: It has to do with the gold leasing/swap explosions mentioned by Rob about what Frank Veneroso said about Terry Smeeton of the Bank of England reported. This is what I featured at The New Orleans Investment Conference. Greenspan was Fed Chairman at the time and was caught in a lie when he stated at the conference that he knew nothing about it. We had this hypocrite caught big time and all Gary Alexander had to do was follow-up with the question we gave him re his Congressional testmony: central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise. Instead, the buffoon asked some illiterate quetion about the U.S. buying gold. And NO ONE raised an eyebrow there but those of us in the GATA camp. What a world!
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 21:26:33 +0000
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