Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I wonder whether this is just a speculative suit based on past performance with the LIBOR scandal, or whether they actually have some sort of smoking gun. The article doesn't really mention either way.



I found this link, which seems much more informative: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/26/us-platinum-pallad...

Unfortunately, it's still not clear to me if there's a smoking gun, or if this is all just part of a general move away from manipulatable benchmarks.


I'd have to imagine they have something. It explicitly mentions twice-daily meetings, so there must be some insider knowledge of what went on.

Besides, the collective lawyer-power of these banks is no joke. You don't go against them unless you have them dead-to-rights.

As an aside, if they DO have this kind of info, it will have to set off international investigations of the LIBOR scandal type, no?


> It explicitly mentions twice-daily meetings, so there must be some insider knowledge of what went on.

Not at all.

"The fixing process is governed by a set of Rules for the Administration and Conduct of The London Platinum and Palladium Market Fixings (the Fixing Rules).The current version of the Fixing Rules, made under Article 74 of The London Platinum and Palladium Fixing Company Limited’s Articles of Association, became effective on 29 July 2014.

Pursuant to the Fixing Rules, representatives of the four members of The London Platinum and Palladium Fixing Company Limited (the Company) dial in to a secure conference facility to determine the single trading prices for platinum and palladium at 9.45 am and 2.00 pm London time on each London business day. The price for platinum is determined first, followed by the price for palladium."

That's a quote from here: http://www.lppm.com/contentitem.aspx?cid=19

And it refers to how (at the moment) the price of platinum and palladium is officially reported. The allegation is not that the twice-daily meetings occurred, it's that the results of those meetings was rigged.


Given that there are only 4 members that decide on the price, it seems like it's rigged by design.


There has been some interest in creating laws against insider trading for commodities, but such laws don't exist, and this case is just a class action of jewelers angry about manipulation on an obscure metal commodity. The LIBOR scandal was a price fixing operation (most or all banks that could set the rate were colluding for collective interest), and the levels of impact are different worlds. The LIBOR scandal was a blatantly criminal action of an almost incalculable scale, and it has had little impact, so what does that say about a class action for legal trading activity?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: