Behnam – Financial Treason & Crime

Ronan Manly, Bullion Star, 04 March 2021

On Monday 1 March, an article in Bloomberg Law by CFTC connected lawyers from law firm Clifford Chance revealed that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reportedly investigating retail silver trader activity in the silver price and that the US Department of Justice looks set to investigate as well.

Before looking at this shocker of an Orwellian development, it’s helpful to provide some context on the CFTC’s track behavior in this area and to show how hypocritical such a development would be. Continue reading “Article: Ignoring years of silver price manipulation, Orwellian CFTC now goes after Reddit Apes”

02/02/202104/03/2021

Article: U.S. commodities regulator monitoring silver markets activity -acting chairman

Article - Media, Publications

U.S. commodities regulator monitoring silver markets activity -acting chairman

Lisa Lambert, 02 February 2021

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. commodities regulator is closely monitoring recent activity in the silver markets and working with fellow regulators to address any potential from the moves, said its acting chairman, Rostin Behnam, in a statement released on Monday.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission “is communicating with fellow regulators, the exchanges, and stakeholders to address any potential threats to the integrity of the derivatives markets for silver, and remains vigilant in surveilling these markets for fraud and manipulation,” Behnam said.

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10/26/202003/18/2021

Article: Market manipulation, excessive speculation and price fixing in commodities

Article - Media, Publications

Market manipulation, excessive speculation and price fixing in commodities

Dr. Steve Suppan, 26 October 2020

On October 15, by a 3-to-2 vote, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a woefully inadequate final rule to prevent market manipulation and excessive speculation in physical commodity derivatives contracts. The rulemaking process had begun in 2010, but a successful Wall Street lawsuit in 2012 concerning a few words in the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, prevented its finalization while there was a Democratic majority of commissioners. This final rule is based on a May 15, 2020 proposal, following the majority’s vote to withdraw 2013 and 2016 proposals and supplements to proposals. IATP has commented on all the proposed rules, beginning in 2010 and up to the May proposal.

Commissioner Rostin Behnam noted in his dissent to the 899-page voting draft of the rule that the CFTC was still investigating an unprecedently large April 20-21 price swing in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil contract. Why rush to finalize the rule before the completion of the WTI investigation? The majority needed to vote before Commissioner Brian Quintenz departs the CFTC at the end of October. Continue reading “Article: Market manipulation, excessive speculation and price fixing in commodities”