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Federal probation officers advise federal judges on sentencing decisions, and they can disagree with prosecutors on such matters. Such disagreement is on display in the case of two former Deutsche Bank traders convicted of wire fraud for a “spoofing” scheme that manipulated prices on a precious metals futures exchange.
Trading is Brisk
The rise in gold and silver prices has increasingly more people trading in the futures market, as we covered on 28 July 2020 in our “U.S. MARKET FRONT” update, thus creating a larger pool of potential victims for unscrupulous traders.
The Wall St. Journal, in a 26 May article by Dave Michaels, reported that the prosecutors in the case of James Vorley and Cedric Chanu had sought prison terms of almost five years or more for the pair, who were found guilty after a two-week trial.
Justice Dept. Zealous on Prosecuting Spoofing
The U.S. Justice Dept. has a program dealing with white-collar crime, and spoofing schemes have been its centerpiece; since 2014, more than 20 people (many of whom are former employees of global banks) have been charged. One trial ended in a hung jury, one defendant was acquitted, and eight others pleaded guilty. The trial of Vorley and Chanu was only the second time a jury returned a guilty verdict in such cases.
Prosecutors calculated the pair’s victims’ losses at between $1.1 and $1.4 million and based their sentencing expectations on those figures. But the probation officers calculated losses differently and recommended no prison time.
Prosecutors then issued a memorandum stating, “If hard-won trial convictions are not met with serious sentences, there is a real risk that market manipulation crimes will not be prosecuted.”
The matter remains unresolved, and the defendants are scheduled to receive sentencing in late June.
TRENDPOST: We note this article to again emphasize how the markets are rigged and how it is a slap on the wrist for the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the financial mobsters and Banksters. However, We the People – the plantation workers of Slavelandia – who commit even minor violations, are persecuted, fined, and sentenced with maximum penalties to the letter of the law.
As we noted in our 29 September 2020 article of how JPMorgan Chase rigged the precious metals market, paid a minimal fine, and no one went to jail: DON’T CALL THEM “CRIMINALS” – THEY’RE “WHITE SHOE BOYS”!