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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ikandiggit, post: 1354564, member: 16269&quot;]Thanks to the Hunt brothers. </p><p><br /></p><p>From wikipedia:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Bunker_Hunt" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Bunker_Hunt" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Bunker_Hunt</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Silver manipulation</p><p>Main article: <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Silver_Thursday" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Silver_Thursday">Silver Thursday</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Beginning in the early 1970s, Hunt and his brother William Herbert Hunt began accumulating large amounts of silver. By 1979, they had nearly cornered the global market.[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-TEXAS-5" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-TEXAS-5"><font size="2">[6]</font></a>[/SUP] In the last nine months of 1979, the brothers profited by an estimated $2 billion to $4 billion in silver speculation, with estimated silver holdings of 100 million <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Troy_weight#Troy_ounce" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Troy_weight#Troy_ounce">ounces</a> (6.25 million pounds).[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-Time1-6" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-Time1-6"><font size="2">[7]</font></a></p><p><br /></p><p>[/SUP]</p><p>During the Hunt brothers&#039; accumulation of the precious metal, prices of silver <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Futures_contracts" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Futures_contracts">futures contracts</a> and silver bullion during 1979 and 1980 rose from $11 an ounce in September 1979 to $50 an ounce in January 1980. Silver prices ultimately collapsed to below $11 an ounce two months later. The largest single day drop in the price of silver occurred on <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Silver_Thursday" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Silver_Thursday">Silver Thursday</a>.[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0"><font size="2">[1]</font></a></p><p><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0"><font size="2"><br /></font></a></p><p>[/SUP]</p><p>Hunt filed for bankruptcy under <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code">Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code</a> in September 1988, largely due to lawsuits incurred as a result of his silver speculation.[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0"><font size="2">[1]</font></a></p><p><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0"><font size="2"><br /></font></a></p><p>[/SUP]</p><p>In 1989 in a settlement with the <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/United_States" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/United_States">United States</a> <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Trading_Commission" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Trading_Commission">Commodity Futures Trading Commission</a>, Nelson Bunker Hunt was fined US$10 million and banned from trading in the commodity markets as a result of civil charges of conspiring to manipulate the silver market stemming from his attempt to <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Corner_the_market" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Corner_the_market">corner the market</a> in silver.[SUP]<a href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/#cite_note-NYT-0"><font size="2">[1]</font></a>[/SUP] This fine was in addition to a multimillion-dollar settlement to pay back taxes, fines and interest to the <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service">Internal Revenue Service</a> for the same period.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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