Judge clears JP Morgan of silver price conspiracy

A US district court judge has cleared JP Morgan Chase & Co of accusations by a group of investors that the company conspired to push down silver prices.

The plaintiffs were unable to prove that JP Morgan had intentionally manipulated prices by creating long and short positions that were out of sync with market events throughout 2010-2011.

The judge stated that the defendant was indeed able to influences prices – something that JP Morgan did not deny – but did not find sufficient evidence to suggest that the bank “intended to cause artificial prices to exist.”

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission started probes of silver price manipulation in 2008, proposing regulations in 2010 that would increase its ability to prevent traders from price manipulation.

Sources: Reuters, GoldSeek