A federal jury has convicted a former Wall Street trader of fraud in connection with manipulative trading in the gold and silver futures markets.
The trader, Christopher Jordan, who worked on the precious metals desks of two firms — JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse — was convicted of wire fraud for his role in a spoofing scheme in the futures markets. He will be sentenced at a future date.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), between 2008 and 2010, Jordan placed thousands of spoof orders in gold and silver futures contracts on the Commodity Exchange (COMEX).
“These deceptive orders were intended to inject false and misleading information about the genuine supply and demand for gold and silver futures contracts into the markets,” the DoJ said in a release.
Back in September 2020, JPMorgan entered a deferred prosecution agreement and paid US$920 million in penalties and disgorgement when it admitted to wire fraud stemming from unlawful trading in precious metals futures, U.S. Treasuries and Treasury futures.
Four other former JPMorgan precious metals traders were convicted in related cases. They are also awaiting sentencing.