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Midas du Metropole
"The Gold Market and Precious Metals Commentary" Q. Little Bear is in the 'doghouse'. Which table do you think
he'd be under ?
A. Gold, of course. But he is hopeful. September 17, 1999 - Spot Gold $255.30 down $1.30 - Spot
Silver $5.09 down 2 cents
"THE VANCOUVER AFFAIR" The Gold Anti Trust Action Committee (GATA) developed an action plan 9 months ago and we have stuck with it. It was patterned after the "enveloping horn" strategy of Shaka, the famed South African Zulu warrior of old. He had his warriors form a diamond formation that penetrated his foes from the point of the diamond; then the left and right flanks flared out, almost encircling the adversary - the back end of this "horn" formation was left open for the foe to retreat. GATA's "point" was retaining Philadelphia's Berger & Montague, one of the most highly regarded anti-trust law firms in the United States. We felt they could help us greatly in our investigation of the manipulation of the gold market. The fact that we retained them would let the financial world know we were serious about our contentions and intentions. The second step was to send out the left flank by alerting the press of our findings regarding "gold market collusion" and to take these findings to the United States Congress. It is our opinion that the gold borrowings, which are facilitating the manipulation, have become so large that they now have become a danger to a certain facet of the banking system. In addition, the tactics employed by certain bullion dealers to hold down the price of gold appear to violate the Sherman-Clayton anti-trust laws, among others. I went to Washington on behalf of GATA and now have relationships there with various banking and economic committees. As far as the press goes, I met with the representatives of four wire services, The Wall Street Journal, etc. Many members of the world press receive www.LeMetropoleCafe.com material and are continually updated on what we are learning and observing about the machinations of the "gold cartel." Step 3 was to unleash the right flank. We felt that after building a consistent, visible track record on this issue, the gold companies would begin to get behind GATA - volunteer organizations that are fighting for their own employees and shareholders. A few of them have given us their support and we are very thankful for that. We just need many more of them and we sought one of them to give us some overt support. We felt that if one of the major gold producing countries would get behind us, many others would soon follow. The trick would be to find a leader "with guts and character." Many months ago it was brought to my attention through an Australian source that Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and Normandy Mining Ltd. of Australia killed a well developed plan for a millennium gold coin that would spur gold demand. Were they both in the bullion dealer gold short camp? Then, right after the Bank of England gold sale announcement on May 7, the Chairman of Normandy Mining Ltd, Robert Champion de Crespigny, came out with a statement for the press that included the following: "The Bank of England gold sales could have a positive impact for the precious metal, accelerating the closure of weaker high-cost mines around the world." ..."This gold will keep on coming out, it will come out at market price, and the worst of production will drop off" ... "The commentators who are saying they expected someone to bid above gold, that's an absurd thing for this amount of gold," he said. "It is very much in line with what you would expect if you knew the industry or this quantity." ... He also was not opposed to the Bank of England's method of sale, a preannounced auction, saying the gold price was "strongly affected by sentiment and could be badly hit by sudden and unannounced large sell-offs." We need time to get used to this bidding type process which I think it is not a bad way to go because it is exactly the same (way) as the government sells treasury bonds," he said. ... "I don't see (the Bank of England's sell-off) as a disaster at all," he said. I was greatly dismayed about these comments and I chastised him in my Midas du Metropole commentary. It concurred with what my sources told me about his killing the millennium coin plan. Then, out of nowhere, in August came the following, which I included in my Midas commentary: Robert Champion de Crespigny was interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Company's late-night television talk show, "Lateline," along with Haruko Fukuda, chief of the World Gold Council and Tony Warwick-Ching, a consultant with Virtual Metals, a company that analyzes the precious metals market. If you have Real Audio, you can hear the "Lateline" program via the Internet at: http://www.abc.net.au/Lateline/stories/s43566.htm This is a summary of what he had to say: * Investment banks are "making a fortune manipulating the gold market." * Many important investment advisers have "substantial conflicts of interest" when they advise their clients against gold. * The price of gold will revive because "in the end we'll have a much more transparent market." * The Bank of England is selling its gold against the wishes of the British people. * The price of gold will strengthen quickly when people see what's going on in the market and the market becomes more open. *"I'm certain gold's going up. It will be as quick as oil was recently." It appeared that Robert Champion de Crespigny had some sort of epiphany. Perhaps he would "champion" our efforts? For that reason I called their president, Colin Jackson. to determine if I could meet with his chairman. Colin was a delight to talk to. We discussed that possibility and I sent Colin the document that I sent to Senator Phil Gramm, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. He gave it to Champion de Crespigny to read. I told him I would go just about anyplace to accomplish our objectives. Initially, Colin thought I could meet him on two dates in Miami in early September, or later in the month in New York. Great, I thought, we are going to get the ball rolling here. About a week later and a week ago, I received a phone call from Colin who told me plans had changed and I had three choices: 1) to fly to Santiago, Chile to meet him, 2) meet with him in a taxi cab in San Francisco or 3) meet with him in Vancouver, Canada, after he arrived at 9 PM on a charter flight. That is how busy his schedule was. But, happy to do whatever it took to kick in the right flank of our battle plan, I decided to fly to Vancouver. I left this past Tuesday morning and, while the trip would be costly in total ($2,000) and take me away from my daily work, it had to be undertaken. The manipulation of the gold market is becoming more obvious by the day as the price of oil heads for $25 per barrel, copper and aluminum prices make new highs and bond yields remain above 6% and look like they are headed for 6.5% because of credit and inflation pressures. All of this and the gold mining companies remain "silent" about the orchestration of the low gold price while the industry is being slaughtered like "lambs" by the bullion dealers and certain "officialdoms." Tuesday in Vancouver was a beautiful day and illuminated this beautiful city. I arrived early in the afternoon at the Delta Hotel at the airport. The afternoon was mine to kill as most of the executives at Placer Dome would not be available because of a scheduled Toronto board meeting. I also had just heard that a changeover of Placer Dome leadership was imminent. So, I took off for the Richmond mall to get a haircut and pick up a pair of gold (plated) cufflinks in preparation for my meeting with the chairman. While traveling about the rest of the city, I could not help but reflect on a promise I made to an Australian miner. He sent me an email right after the formation of GATA asking me to help him and the other 20,000 Australian miners who had been out of work for two years. I'll never forget what he said, "somebody has to do something." It put a smile on my face to reflect on my promise to him. When I returned to Dallas, I thought I would be able to let him know, via The Caf�, that somebody really was doing something and had taken our message and his plea to one of the leaders of the Australian Mining Industry. When I returned to the hotel, there was a message for me on the telephone. It was from Mr. Robert Champion de Crespigny's secretary, so I called her. She told me that she had tried to reach me in Dallas (when I got home I found out she did, but that was 3:30 Vancouver time) and now called to the hotel to tell me that the chairman was going to be delayed and was sorry but he could not meet with me. She then told me he would not be arriving until 9 PM. I then told her that Colin Jackson told me that is when he was scheduled to arrive in the first place. No problem for me at all, I told her. She seemed a bit taken aback and then told me she would contact the chairman and call me back. Off I went to dinner at the adjacent Pier Restaurant to meet with three Caf� members who came by to say hello. Great guys. We all hit it off wonderfully and I went back to my room at 8:45 to organize all the material I had put together to present to Robert Champion de Crespigny. The message light was blinking. I was to call Australia. Miss J., the chairman's secretary, then told me that the charter flight was going to be delayed and he would not arrive at the Vancouver Airport until midnight and again, that the chairman was sorry; maybe some other time we could get together. I'll never forget one other thing she said - it was something about this is not normally how they conduct their affairs or do their business. (I thought to myself, I should hope not). "Well," I told her, "he has to check into the hotel. I will be there just to say hello, introduce myself and chat as he checks in. That way he will know me when we speak in the future." She was silent. I left a message at the front desk for the chairman that I was in room 924. At 11:30 I went down to wait for him and sipped a "cold one" in the Lounge. I had direct view of all those coming in. It would not be a big deal to spot him as the Delta Hotel is not a big one and hardly anyone was arriving at the hotel at this time of night. An hour went by and I went to the front desk and asked if the chairman had checked in. To my astonishment, the clerk said, "Yes, at 22:32." At this point, my blood was starting to boil and I was not a happy camper. I thought to myself, how could anyone be so rude and uncivilized? I spent $2,000, traveled over 2,000 miles on my own time to try and help this man help his own workers and shareholders and he won't even acknowledge my existence, even though his own president set the appointment for me. I have met many Australians over the years and have found them to be the most delightful people. Fifteen years ago, I went to Auckland, New Zealand with my friend, famed New Zealand Olympian runner, Rod Dixon. It was the year after he won the New York Marathon. After visiting that lovely city and downing some "brewskees" with him, I took off for Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. The trip was a blast and so were the Aussies I met. That is why I was so stunned at this man's boorish behavior. I had a breakfast meeting with six more Caf� members at 8 AM. Since the chairman wasn't supposed to leave until 7:45 (although at this point I did not know what to believe about this lot anymore) I hung around the front desk area at 7:15 in case I heard someone with an Australian accent. I asked the front desk if he had checked out yet. They said, "no." I waited; he did not show and I left to meet some more engaging Vancouverians. Then, back to the airport and a long trip back to Dallas. As soon as I returned on Wednesday night, I phoned Colin Jackson in Australia. I have not heard from him as of yet. What was "Vancouver" all about? I would like to say I am bewildered. But my first reaction was the same as those of my associates. Someone from the bullion dealer camp got to Champion de Crespigny and told him not to meet with me. What else makes any sense? What kind of man would do that to another man trying to help him? What is more perturbing is that this was a closely kept secret in a sense. Yes, I told the Caf� I was going to Vancouver, but I did not say I was going there to see a gold producer, much less Normandy Mining. The question then becomes, is my phone tapped or are my emails being monitored? I do not wish to run with that one too far, but the thought of it all is very disturbing. I was warned by our GATA attorney's to expect that to happen as far back as last March. As I ponder my strange journey this past week to Vancouver, this news wire was just sent to me: LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - "Central banks have been misguided in lending out their gold reserves, allowing bullion banks to make large profits and opening the door to hedge fund short selling, Normandy Mining (Australia:NDY.AX - news) Chairman Robert Champion de Crespigny said on Friday. "I think central banks have allowed the middle men to make a fortune. That is my first point," de Crespigny told Reuters at a mining equities conference, explaining the term "middle men" as a reference to bullion banks. "The second one is how a central bank could be so stupid to lend to a hedger who is only going to sell it," he added. Gold lease rates have been tightening since May, when Britain announced plans to sell more than half its 715 tonnes of gold reserves, unleashing a wave of producer and hedge fund selling which knocked more than 10 percent off gold prices and soaked up much of the metal available for loan. Hedge funds and miners usually profit from the difference between gold and money lending rates while those central banks in the market get some return on a reserve asset which costs money to store. De Crespigny said that while central banks were right to lend their gold to miners, they erred in lending it to funds. "If I were a lender of gold, I would at least make sure that people owned the damn stuff," he said. High lease rates made it difficult for miners to establish new hedge positions, he added. "If I were a new hedger at these prices, I would be terribly concerned," he said." Chairman Champion de Crespigny: I trust you will be as bold and forthcoming with the Australian press when they query you about "The Vancouver Affair." One has to wonder what stands behind these words of yours. It appears you have established a pattern of talking and doing one thing one day, then talking and doing just the opposite another day. What is what with you? Meanwhile back at the ranch, I have two other ideas in the hopper that could bolster the effectiveness of our "right flank" battle plan to bring on the gold producers. The first is to talk to Bobby Godsell, the Chief Executive Officer of the world's largest gold mining company, Anglogold Limited. One of the Caf� members I met in Vancouver has had email correspondence with 'Bobby" over the past few months. Upon hearing of my "Normandy fiasco" on Wednesday evening, he immediately filed off an email to Bobby Godsell. Godsell immediately responded to him stating that he would like to meet with me to discuss GATA's issues and that he plans to be in the United States in 6 weeks. I will be calling him early next week to see if a meeting can be arranged. The other sterling opportunity for GATA is to meet executives from most of the world's largest gold producers at the Denver Gold Group Conference one month from today in Denver, Colorado. Surprisingly, four of the gold companies that will be there have made some contribution to GATA. So have some of the money managers. They want the GATA Committee to attend the conference to let the gold producers know what we are doing and we can do for them. Michelle Stelle runs the Denver Gold Group and has done a marvelous job in developing her concept. I did a favor a couple of years ago for Michelle when she needed a speaker. I arranged one for her. Thus, I was shocked when she told me that she not only could not let me address the group, but could not extend me an invitation to attend, either. This makes no sense at all until one realizes that "Hannibal Lecter," the famed bullion dealer, will be there along with many other "Hannibal Cannibals." There they are again - just more evidence that the bullion dealers are in full control of the gold market, in almost every aspect. It is a sad state of affairs. If gold shareholders knew the extent of what is going on here, they would be outraged. Why invest in gold companies if they are going to allow this to continue? It is a waste of time and one's capital. I have made a reservation at the Westin Hotel in Denver anyway and requested a hospitality suite. But after "The Vancouver Affair," I have to think it through whether I should attend or not. I want to enjoy my life, not knock my head against the wall. That does not mean any less commitment or effort on my part. I just may have to stay focused on people who care about the travesty that is occurring and the inherent dangers that it is breeding. Twenty thousand "out of work" Australian gold miners and millions of others are counting on "somebody to do something." GATA has no intention of letting them down. September 16 , 1999 - Spot Gold $256.30 another big unch. - Spot Silver $5.11 up 2 cents Martin Armstrong - Princeton Economics International - Update More on Tiger and a Deutsche Bank Conference Call The Way I See It - by Midas By now, many of you have read about the antics of Mr. Martin Armstrong. What a story this is. I just returned from Vancouver where he visited often, spoke to many and was highly regarded by the Canadian commentators in that city. He was the man. He is the man here and in Japan too. The con man. By now, those interested in financial matters know that he had a Ponzi scheme going of the first billion dollar order. It was uncovered by Japanese investigators, not U.S. investigators, who tout how on top of everything they are. What a joke! Recently, when queried about some funny goings on in the gold market, the CFTC said they would know if something was amiss in the gold market. Sure. Just like you had the hang of it on Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong had so many fooled. He came across as Mr. Academia. But, he was no PhD; he did not even have a bachelor's degree. His formal training was limited to courses at RCA Institute, an early New York City electronics technical school now known as Technical Career Institute. (Yet, he could call a press conference on why gold is so bearish and the press would fall all over him - we hold a press conference to logically explain why the gold market is manipulated and no one shows up). From what I can tell from press reports, Martin and his cronies at Republic Securities were taking new money from investors to pay interest due to old investors. A classic Ponzi by a Ponzi. M.A. was not shy about talking his book. A renowned commodity trader with a more renowned ego, Armstrong, with all his brilliance, got most of the markets all wrong in recent times. He was long bonds, short oil, short yen and short gold. Three out of the 4 were the worst trades one can imagine. Bonds have gone straight down this year, oil and yen straight up. The only winner has been gold and it only kerplunked right after the BOE announcement on May 7. This is where it gets interesting. That is when he took on GATA, telling us that gold was going to $200 and our theories of manipulation were gaga. We were such misguided souls, said he. That is also when the lease rates started to rise from a normal one per cent to as high as 5.08 per cent for one month gold just yesterday. Then in June, out of nowhere, he came out with a vitriolic, public attack on GATA for our beliefs. With all the pressure he must have been under, why would he take the time to attack us? That attack was circulated all over the world. I suggest to you that it was because he was short hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of gold, either gold borrowings or gold futures. It was imperative that his one winning position continue to be a winner because the money made in his futures positions could be marked to the market and used to pay to old investors or used to credit his other losing positions. One thing for sure, whatever was going on here was big league. I have the Sealed Complaint in front of me. It is from Anthony L. Zampogna, Special Agent for the FBI, to Andrew J. Peck, United States Magistrate Judge of the Southern District of New York in the case of United States of America v Martin Armstrong. I would think that if the FBI is involved, it is more than just your average fraud case. The FBI raided his office on Sep. 1 and issued a seizure warrant for his Princeton Global Account at Republic Securities on Sept. 2. Republic Securities was then made custodian. Of course, Republic Securities then fired its president, James Sweeney, and president of the futures division, William H. Rogers. Remember the emails I showed you that I received from one of your Caf� members who used to be top gun at EF Hutton: "Sweeney and Curley, the CEO of Cresvale, were #2 and #3 executives in the Futures Division of EF Hutton in the mid-1980s. They and their boss, Arnold Phelan, were responsible for tipping off the Mafia that the FBI was onto them, thus blowing the famous "Pizza Connection" drugs and money-laundering case." Here is his follow up email: "Cresvale was part of Princeton. Princeton blames Republic; Republic blames Princeton. All I know is that Sweeney and Curley worked together for over 15, probably 20 years, at EF Hutton, Prudential and then at Republic...Sweeney was in fact Curley's protege as the article below points out. What are the odds that Curley would stick his protege with a dirty deal without Sweeney understanding what it was? In this case, I say virtually nil. Republic and Cresvale cooked up these "tobashi" deals together. I believe under US accounting they are illegal. If Armstrong didn't know what was going on he either is not too smart, incompetent, or both." ...."My source went on to tell me some great nitty gritty. For example, Arnold Phelan met with one of the Mafia boys at a bar who had $15 million in cash with him. Phelan called his guys at the cage in N.Y. and said, "hey, we got $15 million here." Another Irishman, a portly off duty retired cop with a pistol in his pocket was sent to pick up the money." How right on can a Caf� member get? But the intrigue builds as to what is really going on here. Cambridge, England , Sept 13 (Reuters).......The U.S. Treasury's director for Financial Crimes Enforcement, William Baity, told the 17th International Conference on Economic Crime that the Republic case showed the challenge facing international banking regulators fighting organized crime.... "Whether it's money laundering or not, we will probably be still sorting this matter out at the 18th annual conference next year," Baity told the Conference. Republic New York.... The next day Reuters retracted the story (just before the Armstrong scandal broke publicly) saying they meant the Bank of New York. Never have I seen a retraction like this. Sounds like a major screw up, but it also may give us an idea that this involves much more than your basic financial fraud. Most likely, the FBI is working on all of this, but had to move in because of pressure from the Japanese. This is much more serious than they are letting on. (So is the gold short position) Since then we have learned the United States government has seized control of and taken over Martin Armstrong's accounts. Many have asked why the gold market has done nothing under these circumstances. Simple - the Fox is guarding the gold position right now. They will do whatever they want with it in the short term. What can Republic do about it, since their own employees facilitated the fraud? We have suspected that the N.Y. Fed has been involved in the manipulation of the gold market for some time now. They were involved in the LTCM bailout and supposedly they were short 300 tonnes of gold. That was resolved somehow in an "off market" transaction. The same could be going on again, although this one will be hard to keep quiet with so many agencies, countries, investors and companies involved. Many juicy stories will be revealed in the months to come and so will many of the revealing facts. What we do know is that Republic Bank was going around this summer borrowing gold from other bullion dealers. Why? They are a bullion dealer and do not need to do so unless other central banks got wind of the scam and were shutting them down. Or, they were running around borrowing gold for desperado Armstrong. Hard to say. How innocent is Republic bank? So far no repercussions against them, but this may kill their deal with HSBC. The share price of Republic is plummeting. I find it ironic that Republic Bank executives found time to prevent GATA from opening a simple money market account at their bank, but did not take the time to do some serious surveillance of their own shop. They had no clue about the real scam going on right beneath their eyes. Then again, maybe the guy who turned us down knew of what was going on and did not want us too close - in any form. That just dawned on me. I will stay on top of this one. There is no doubt in my mind, Armstrong was mega short gold. It will have to surface sometime, somewhere. It was all over CNBC today that Tiger (the hedge fund) is really having problems - and it is as bad as I told you 6 weeks ago. Now, reports say, they are down 22% YTD, their stock positions are swooning and more key personnel are leaving just as we told you they would. That 22% number is at our worst end of expectations. How bad would it be if they had to liquidate some of the more illiquid positions? Deutsche Bank had a conference call today, led by the renowned Charles Von Arentschildt. Caf� members have told me he said that after his last conference call he said he was called "Hannibal Lecter," but after this conference call he might be called "Cinderella." In essence, from what I heard from other Caf� members, he said that the IMF gold sale was dead (and that he had been wrong about that), the Swiss sale looks iffy and central bank lending would be curtailed from now until the end of the year. It was a positive report. We have to get this "Cinderella" a Caf� membership. That has been Midas' line for some time now as you all know. Gold Field Mineral Services made its semi-annual presentation in New York today. Word from our camp was they ended their presentation mocking our Hillary Clinton/BOE story and our assessment of the gold loans being 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes. All that attention in one day. We all must be getting on their nerves. Nothing like it to have truth on our side - they will have an uphill battle combating us from here on in. VANCOUVER Tomorrow: I went there to meet the chairman of one of the most conspicuous gold companies in the world, to ask him if both he and his firm would get behind GATA. The incredible story of what happened (It is not who you think it is). Midas Bill Murphy ( Midas ) After graduating from Cornell University, Bill was a starting wide receiver with the Patriots of the old American Football League and has been around the financial and commodities markets ever since. He owned a futures firm in N. Y. that specialized in precious metals and was a contributor to Veneroso Associates, a global strategic investment firm and producer of the 1998 Gold Book Annual. Disclaimer notice: Midas du Metropole does not look like an investment advisor, nor is he one. Any comments about any gold and silver shares by Midas or any of the Cafe members are for your information and entertainment only. They should not be regarded as advice and should be treated like comments passed on at any other Cafe. We are only relating as to what we like for our own accounts. If you would like to start your own commentary (thread) or post comments on an existing one, click here. If you would like to review past commentary in the Library, click here. |
