To balance the news that the Comex is up to 'no good' as outlined in a previous post (Gold Manipulation Whistle Blower Blows Away CFTC – Biggest Fraud in History?) this article by Erik Townsend does a detailed overview of the issues involved. Perhaps we were hoodwinked by some of the GATA and King information? While I respect GATA's aims, they are not perfect and may have gone too far this time. Sadly, Mr. Townsend points out that they may have lost a 'golden' opportunity to shed light where it could actually do the most good. Here is an excerpt:

"Ever since the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) hearing on position limits in the COMEX precious metals futures markets on March 25th, the blogosphere has been on fire with talk of conspiracy, scandal and fraud. Eric King of King World News has run a series of audio interviews in which he repeatedly suggests that what’s being uncovered may actually be “The greatest fraud in history”. Meanwhile, the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) has made numerous allegations pertaining to fraud on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), which is arguably the largest marketplace in the world for sale and purchase of physical gold bullion. The story gets even more juicy – at the CFTC hearing, GATA brought forth information from a whistleblower named Andrew Maguire. Then, just days after this disclosure, Mr. Maguire and his wife were victims of a hit-and run car accident in London. In what read like a 1960s spy novel, the blogosphere immediately went wild with allegations that JP Morgan, an investment bank that trades in the precious metals market, had arranged to have Mr. Maguire assassinated for revealing their devilish plot to manipulate precious metals markets! To the casual observer, all this smacks of exactly what Eric King has called it: The greatest fraud in history!

But to the not-so-casual observer, i.e. someone who actually understands metals markets and how they function, it’s quickly apparent that most of the hype circulating in the blogosphere is utter nonsense. In fact, there appears to this author to be far more misinformation than accurate information circulating on the Internet with regard to this subject. Sadly, GATA, the watchdog organization that is urgently needed by investors to keep an eye on wrongdoing in these markets, appears to be more at fault than any other party for distorting the facts and making baseless allegations. While that organization’s chartered mission is certainly noble, the organization’s execution of that mission warrants some harsh criticism. This article will review the history of what has transpired, and will debunk the false information that has been spreading rampantly in the coverage of these events by otherwise-respectable websites including ZeroHedge and King World News."

To read the complete article go to Financial Sense Editorials.