Tag: Pacilio

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Article: Ex-Merrill Trader Says Co-Workers in Spoof Trial Taught Him

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Ex-Merrill Trader Says Co-Workers in Spoof Trial Taught Him

Breanna Bradham, 24 July 2021

A former trader at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit told a federal jury in Chicago that he learned how to manipulate the price of precious metals from two more senior traders in the bank’s New York office, John Pacilio and Edward Bases.

Harnaik Lakhan said he used Merrill’s internal computer system to watch Pacilio and Bases, who are on trial for alleged spoofing, issue buy and sell orders they didn’t intend to be filled, pushing prices up or down to make it profitable for orders they wanted to execute. Lakhan, who agreed to cooperate with the government to avoid prosecution, said he began using the same techniques from his office in London.

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Article: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley win dismissal of metals spoofing litigation

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Bank of America, Morgan Stanley win dismissal of metals spoofing litigation

Jonathan Stempel, 05 March 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday dismissed litigation by traders and trading firms accusing Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley of manipulating the precious metals futures market by placing trades and then cancelling them before execution, or “spoofing”.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said the June 2019 lawsuit over alleged spoofing in gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures from 2007 to 2014 was filed long after the two-year federal statute of limitations had run out.

The investors said the clock started in January 2018 when the traders Edward Bases and John Pacilio, both from Connecticut and also defendants, were charged with commodities fraud. Six other people were criminally charged at the time. Continue reading “Article: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley win dismissal of metals spoofing litigation”

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Article: Merrill Lynch Traders Can’t Avoid Spoofing, Fraud Charges

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Merrill Lynch Traders Can’t Avoid Spoofing, Fraud Charges

Law360, 21 May 2020

The government’s June 2018 indictment says the traders’ scheme between June 2009 and October 2014 created the illusion of market movement by using large orders to inflate the price, with no intention of filling the orders, thus committing wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

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Article: Catch of the Week — Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc.

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Catch of the Week — Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc.

CONSTANTINE CANNON, 28 June 2019

Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc (“Merrill”), a commodity trading subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, agreed on June 25th to two $25 million settlements with both the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) to resolve allegations it conducted deceptive trading practices in United States commodities markets. Continue reading “Article: Catch of the Week — Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc.”

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Filing: Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

Filing

Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

CourtListener, 27 June 2019

This action arises from Defendants’ unlawful and intentional manipulation of COMEX Gold Futures, COMEX Silver Futures, NYMEX Platinum Futures, and NYMEX Palladium Futures contracts, and options on those futures contracts (collectively, “precious metals futures contracts”) traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”) and the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (“COMEX”) from approximately January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2014 (the “Class Period”) in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 1, et seq. (the “CEA”) and the common law.

PDF (29 pages): Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

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Article: Merrill Lynch to pay $25M to settle metals ‘spoofing’ claims

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Merrill Lynch to pay $25M to settle metals ‘spoofing’ claims

Jaclyn Jaeger, 27 June 2019

Merrill Lynch Commodities, a global commodities trading business, will pay a combined $25 million in criminal fines, restitution, and forfeiture of trading profits to resolve a government investigation into a multi-year scheme to mislead the market for precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange, the Department of Justice announced.

According to MLCI’s admissions, from 2008 through 2014, precious metals traders employed by MLCI schemed to deceive other market participants with materially false and misleading information. They did so by placing fraudulent orders for precious metals futures contracts that, at the time the traders placed the orders, they intended to cancel before execution. Continue reading “Article: Merrill Lynch to pay $25M to settle metals ‘spoofing’ claims”

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Article: Merrill Lynch Pays $36.5 Million to Settle Spoofing Charges

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Merrill Lynch Pays $36.5 Million to Settle Spoofing Charges

Aziz Abdel-Qader, 26 June 2019

Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. (MLCI) has just settled spoofing charges with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by agreeing to pay a combined $36.5 million. The CFTC action centered on spoofing activity carried out by Bank of America’s global commodities trading business in a scheme that ran from 2008 through 2014 and involved dozens of fraudulent orders that were canceled before execution.

MLCI precious metals traders are accused of working with other traders to rig the purchase and sale of futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. Continue reading “Article: Merrill Lynch Pays $36.5 Million to Settle Spoofing Charges”

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Release: Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. Enters into Corporate Resolution and Agrees to Pay $25 Million in Connection with Deceptive Trading Practices Executed on U.S. Commodities Markets

Release

Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. Enters into Corporate Resolution and Agrees to Pay $25 Million in Connection with Deceptive Trading Practices Executed on U.S. Commodities Markets

DOJ, 25 June 2019

Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. (MLCI), a global commodities trading business, has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve the government’s investigation into a multi-year scheme by MLCI precious metals traders to mislead the market for precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange Inc. (COMEX), announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

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Article: Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures

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Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures

Francine McKenna, 25 June 2019

Merrill Lynch’s global commodities trading business agreed to pay $25 million and enter into a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice on Tuesday to settle charges regarding a multi-year scheme by its precious metals traders to mislead the market for precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange Inc. Merrill Lynch admitted to the allegations that beginning by at least 2008 and continuing through 2014, its precious metals traders schemed to deceive other market participants by injecting materially false and misleading information into the precious metals futures market by placing fraudulent “spoof” orders for precious metals futures contracts that, at the time the traders placed thousands of fraudulent orders, they intended to cancel before execution. Continue reading “Article: Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures”

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