Goldman Sachs & Others Accused of Manipulating Platinum and Palladium Prices

PalladiumGold and silver aren’t the only precious metals being blatantly manipulated, at least according to Florida-based jeweler who filed a lawsuit against several companies for colluding to “fix” the prices of platinum and palladium.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC, Standard Bank Group Ltd. , and German chemical maker BASF SE have been named in the complaint, which was recently reported by the Wall Street Journal:

The four companies colluded since 2007 to manipulate the twice-daily price “fixes” for the metals, said lawyers for Modern Settings LLC, a jewelry and law enforcement badge-making company in Sarasota, Fla. The alleged price rigging allowed the four to enrich themselves at the expense of other market participants, the lawsuit said.

On Dec. 1st, the London Metal Exchange officially began handling price fixing for the white metals using an electronic process rather than teleconferences.

But the plaintiffs in the case have argued that help has “‘come too late’ for themselves and other members of the class in the lawsuit as they have already been harmed by the actions of Goldman, BASF and others over the past several years,” says Palladium Investing News.