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GATA'S REG HOWE SUES BIS, FED,
TREASURY, AND 5 INVESTMENT HOUSES
TO STOP GOLD PRICE SUPPRESSION
December 8, 2000
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston on
behalf of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee accuses
five investment houses, the Bank for International
Settlements, and top officials of the U.S. Treasury
Department and U.S. Federal Reserve Board of conspiring
to suppress the price of gold.
The lawsuit, Docket No. 00CV-12485-RCL, charges the
defendants with anti-trust violations, securities
fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. The U.S.
government officials are also accused of exceeding
their constitutional authority.
The lawsuit's plaintiff is Reginald H. Howe, a lawyer,
gold market analyst, consultant to GATA, proprietor of
an Internet site devoted to gold market commentary
(www.GoldenSextant.com), and a shareholder of the Bank
for International Settlements and Freeport McMoran
Copper and Gold Inc. The BIS' plan to cancel those of
its shares in private hands so that the bank might
become owned entirely by member governments is at the
center of the lawsuit.
The suit alleges that the BIS proposes to pay its
private shareholders substantially less than fair value
for their shares. The suit also claims that the BIS,
owner of a substantial amount of gold, has been at the
center of a scheme with central banks and the
investment house defendants to coordinate the sale of
gold and gold derivatives to keep the price of gold low
and thereby disguise inflation and weakness in the U.S.
dollar.
Officials of the Federal Reserve Board have no
authority to hold directorships of the BIS, the lawsuit
alleges.
The suit seeks injunctions to stop the Treasury
Department and the Fed from intervening in the gold
market and to stop the investment houses from
manipulating the price of gold; an order to the BIS to
compensate its private shareholders fully; and damages
against all the defendants for fixing the price of
gold.
Besides the BIS, the defendants include: Alan
Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board;
William J. McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York; Lawrence H. Summers, secretary of the
Treasury Department; and J.P. Morgan amp; Co. Inc.,
Chase Manhattan Corp., Citigroup Inc.,
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Deutsche Bank AG.
The text of the lawsuit is posted on the Internet at:
www.goldensextant.com/Complaint.html#anchor3130
and
quot;With this lawsuit, we hope to mobilize the gold mining
industry and gold shareholders around the world to help
us restore a free market,quot; GATA Chairman Bill Murphy
said. quot;Mining companies, their employees and
shareholders, and developing countries have been ruined
by the manipulation of the gold market, and it has
prompted ordinary investors around the world to put
their savings at greater risk than they would have done
otherwise. Meanwhile certain Wall Street interests have
made billions from this manipulation. GATA was founded
to fight this, and fighting it we are.
quot;But sustaining this lawsuit against defendants that
control most of the world's money will cost money
itself, and we continue to appeal to gold's friends for
financial contributions to support our work.quot;
GATA is a educational and charitable organization
incorporated in Delaware. Contributions are federally
tax-exempt in the United States and may be sent to GATA
in care of Chris Powell, secretary/treasurer, 7 Villa
Louisa Road, Manchester, Conn. 06043-7541 USA. (Email:
GATAComm@aol.com.)
Murphy may be reached by telephone in Dallas, Texas, at
214-522-3411, and by electronic mail at
LePatron@LeMetropoleCafe.com.
