US: Two metals price fixing lawsuits dismissed

US District Judge Valerie Caproni has dismissed five international banks from two antitrust lawsuits by investors. The lawsuits are among several that alleged that the banks conspired for several years to rig the prices for hundreds of billions of dollars in the gold and silver markets.

On Wednesday, July 25, Judge Caproni threw out silver price fixing claims against Bank of America, Barclays, Standard Chartered, UBS Group, and BNP Paribas in an 87 page decision.

In 2016, Deutsche Bank settled a metals price fixing lawsuit for US$38 million and provided 350,000 pages of documents as well as audio tapes and chat messages. These materials were presented as evidence that the five banks had conspired to fix prices.

But the judge found no overarching conspiracy among fixing and non-fixing banks.

“Though the [complaint] plausibly alleges that the fixing banks conspired to depress the Fix Price, it does not explain why the non-fixing banks, which are competitors and counterparties, would be in on the agreement,” she wrote.

Full Content: Reuters

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