“Edmonds testified that he learned how to “fraud” trade from...

“Edmonds testified that he learned how to “fraud” trade from colleagues at JPMorgan, where he executed over 400 fraudulent transactions, which he said were “expected” by everyone at the desk.

Former JP Morgan precious metals desk chief, Michael Novak, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison. Nearly 50,000 spoofed trades on Precious Metals Desk.LBMA

“Our job was to do anything to make money,” he said during Smith’s trial last year.

Prosecutors allege that the precious metals desk conducted more than 50,000 fraudulent trades under Novak’s supervision.

Trunz – Smith’s protégé who sat next to him in JPMorgan’s New York office – also pleaded guilty to the crime and avoided prison time by agreeing to cooperate with the DOJ.

Three other former JPMorgan precious metals traders, John Edmonds, Christian Trunz and Jeffrey Ruffo, were also charged with orchestrating an eight-year scheme to manipulate the international markets for gold and silver.U. Baumgarten via Getty Images

According to Bloomberg, Trunz was another star witness who testified during Smith’s trial last July, where she said that Smith was so quick to place and cancel bogus orders that her co-workers joked that they had to do it with their fingers. Needs ice to cool down.

“It was an open strategy on the desk. It was not hidden,” he said on the stand.”

It sounds like BAU to me, “it was not hidden”. A bit like trading history documenting the pump and dumps in the Form 603 and 604s. Still, it must only have been the traders at JP Morgan who were doing this. Every other institution (BAML, Goldmann, State Street, RBC, Blackrock etc) played by the rules. No need to look any further.