German magazine Der Spiegel reports on GATA lawsuit

Societe Generale Follows Howe/GATA,
Files Fraud Lawsuit against BIS

By Bill Murphy, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
January 6, 2001

Here's a story from Bloomberg News:

quot;New York, Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank for
International Settlements, which is controlled by 49 of
the world's largest banks, has been accused of scheming
to cheat investors as it moves to buy out public
shareholders and take itself private.

quot;Founded in 1930 to handle Germany's World War I
reparations, the BIS promotes central bank cooperation
and provides facilities for international financial
operations. Central banks own 86.27 percent of the
bank; investors own the rest.

quot;Basel, Switzerland-based BIS announced in September
that it would restrict ownership of shares to central
banks and spend 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($851 million)
to buy out other stockowners. In a suit filed Thursday
in New York, First Eagle/SoGen Funds Inc., a New York-
based mutual fund group that owns 9,085 BIS shares,
says the price the bank intends to pay for its stock is a
'whopping 53 percent discount' off the shares' value.

quot;'The centerpiece of the bank's scheme to freeze out its
public shareholders is an analysis by it own financial
advisers that abandons the method it has historically
used to value its shares in favor of a method that
undervalues' SoGen's stake, the suit says.

quot;BIS has scheduled a meeting in Basel on Monday to take
the bank private. The bank said compensation to
shareholders reflected a premium of up to 155 percent
of the shares' price prior to the BIS announcement.

quot;SoGen says it want a fair but as yet undetermined
price for the stock, which is traded in Paris and
Zurich. The lawsuit, which alleges securities fraud and
breach of contract, does not seek to block Monday's
meeting.

quot;The bank's attorney, Jonathon Blackman, said the suit
lacked merit. He declined to comment further.

quot;When the initial capital for BIS was raised, the
central banks were given the option of buying all of
the shares allocated to them, or to arrange for shares
to be purchased by the public.

quot;As a result, part of the Belgian and French stock
issues and the whole U.S. issue aren't currently held
by the central banks but by private investors.

quot;The BIS said the move to private ownership will enable
the bank to focus on central banking activities rather
than the share price. According to the lawsuit, the BIS
'sits atop enormous assets' it plans to use as 'a
cushion for the international financial system.'

quot;Among those who sit on the BIS board is U.S. Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the suit says.quot;

While the Bloomberg story does not mention specific
lawyers, sources close to www.LeMetropoleCafe.com say
one one of the most prestigious international law
firms, Sullivan amp; Cromwell, accompanied SoGen at a
meeting with the BIS.

Among legal advisers, Sullivan amp; Cromwell is said to be
the top legal advisor for announced mergers involving
U.S. targets for the last year, working on 141 deals
totaling just under $658 billion.

This certainly is a tremendous credibility boost for
the Howe/GATA camp and bolsters our claims.

You might like to know that trading in BIS shares was
suspended two hours before the European trading close
on Friday.

Wonder what's up?