Targeting the Gold Cabal with Silver Bullets: A new study by Reg Howe

9:31p ET Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

The Associated Press report below about an enormous
jury verdict in an antitrust lawsuit against the largest
U.S. meat packer may have implications for Blanchard amp;
Co.'s lawsuit against Morgan Chase and Barrick Gold,
successor lawsuit to GATA consultant Reginald H. Howe's
suit against Morgan Chase and others involved in
suppressing the gold price.

First, the verdict here suggests that, in hard economic
times, no big company should want to have to face a jury
in a suit brought by the representatives of smaller and
ordinary participants in its industry. Evidence is even
more likely to be construed more favorably to the quot;little
guys.quot;

Second, note the admission that the defendant here,
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., controls almost a third of the
U.S. cattle market. Morgan Chase and Barrick control
the great majority of the U.S. gold derivatives market,
perhaps two-thirds of it. If you can rig prices while
controlling not quite a third of the market, you can do
it even more easily when you control two-thirds of it.

And third, note the claim of the plaintiffs that Tyson
entered the cattle market strategically -- with the
intent not just of buying cattle but of driving prices
down.

Prices are rigged in all sorts of supposedly free
markets and it should not be considered outlandish to
suggest that it might happen in the precious metals
markets too -- especially when interests as powerful
as central banks and bullion banks have an
overwhelming interest in suppressing the prices of
precious metals.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *

Jury returns $1.28 billion verdict in beef lawsuit against Tyson

By Kyle Wingfield
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, February 17, 2004

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A federal court jury awarded
$1.28 billion Tuesday to a group of cattlemen after finding
that the largest U.S. beef packer, Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.,
had unfairly manipulated cattle prices.

Attorneys for Tyson Fresh Meats said they planned to
appeal the class action verdict.

Cattlemen from across the country filed suit in 1996 against
Tyson, known then as IBP Inc., claiming the company used
contracts with a select few beef producers to create a captive
supply of cattle.

The plaintiffs said Tyson relied on this captive supply when
cattle prices were high and entered the cash market for cattle
only when prices were low -- thereby depressing cattle prices.

quot;This verdict represents an extraordinary day for cattlemen in
this country,quot; said the cattlemen's attorney, Randy Beard of
Guntersville.

Tyson attorney Thomas C. Green, however, said there are quot;a
lot of problemsquot; with the jury's decision.

quot;In my view, it's incompatible and inconsistent with the
evidence,quot; Green said. quot;I suspect that there will be a lot more
to say about this verdict before it's all over.quot;

Visiting senior U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom must decide
any injunctive actions against the company. Cattlemen's
attorney David Domina said Strom likely will wait until after
similar trials in Nebraska involving two other large packers:
Swift amp; Co. and Excel Corp.

The cattlemen will ask Strom to issue an injunction requiring
that a quot;substantial amountquot; of the nation's cattle are bought
on the cash market, not with contracts.

IBP merged with Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc. in 2001.

The trial lasted about a month and jurors deliberated for about
four days before returning the verdict.

Eight years have passed since six cattlemen filed a
class-action lawsuit on behalf of up to 30,000 producers who
sold cattle to Tyson in the cash market from February 1994
to October 2002.

The exact size of the class is unknown, and Tyson contends
it is much smaller than 30,000.

Central to the cattlemen's claim is Tyson's use of marketing
agreements in which cattle producers pledge to ship a certain
number of cattle to a packer. The plaintiffs contend Tyson used
those agreements to drive prices down, threatening the
livelihood of thousands of ranchers.

Tyson countered that even though it buys roughly one-third of
the 30 million cattle sold to U.S. packers each year, that
share of the market does not allow the company to set the
market price.

An Auburn University agricultural economist testified that
Tyson's contracts had driven down cattle prices by 5.1 percent,
or about $2.1 billion, during the eight-year class period. The
defense countered with two economists who claimed the
Auburn professor's model greatly exaggerated the plaintiffs'
alleged loss.

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----------------------------------------------------

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