Cigarettes and Leasing

In a stunning outcome that captured headlines around the world, six very ordinary people rendered a $145 Billion verdict against US tobacco companies. Notwithstanding appeals and other legal maneuverings, the jury, after a two year trial, tried to drive a stake through the very heart of Big Tobacco. The jury had to know that if their verdict was unaltered, production of cigarettes in the US would cease. I am aware of no such verdict ever being reached in a court of law. It doesn't get more monumental than this. This jury was, obviously, trying to send a message. The message was that, for 50 years, Big Tobacco had produced a product that killed people, and had continuously lied and distorted that fact.

The jury believed the plaintiffs' simple point that cigarettes were a defective product. Defective, in that when used as intended by the manufacturer, the product killed people. That's about as defective as a product can be. What is remarkable about this episode is that it took so long to come to fruition. The legal brilliance of the case was in keeping it simple - a manufacturer can be held liable for damages for a defective product. All the plaintiffs' attorneys had to prove was that the product was defective and the manufacturers lied about that defect.

Like cigarettes, the leasing of metal is a defective product. When used as intended, leasing artificially depresses the price of gold and silver, and creates the certainty of default. Additionally, the practitioners of leasing/forward selling have, and are lying about its defects. They are pretending that leasing/forward selling is a normal activity. That is a lie. As I have written about for years, leasing is inherently flawed - the process itself is manipulative. The very thought that a producer would undertake a course of action that would dump excess metal on the market (which has to depress the price) and then promise to repay something that can't be repaid, is as defective a product as cigarettes. Let a jury ponder the deformed circumstance where a producer who employs forward selling is harmed when the price of his product rises, for the first time in the history of the world.

But the intent of this piece is not to rehash the reasons why leasing/forward selling is defective. This piece is intended as an unambiguous solicitation for a good attorney to bring a defective product lawsuit against those that are responsible for the existence of leasing/forward selling. Just like in the case of tobacco, we need to get leasing to a jury, if it is ever to be stopped. We will wait forever, if we wait for Congress, the regulatory authorities, or the practitioners themselves to bring this abomination to an end. It will never happen that way. Only in front of a jury, will the stupidity, manipulation and fraud of leasing/forward selling be exposed and decided fairly on. Then we will see who's lying.

Those damaged include anyone who lost money as a result of the depressed gold and silver prices of the past 15 years, individuals and companies alike, who were not part of the leasing scam. Those to be held liable would include those involved in the scam - central banks, bullion banks and mining companies. Obviously, this would be of a civil nature, including punitive damages. Criminal charges still have to come from the government. In order to keep the suit as simple as possible, a mining company should be the initial target, because the facts could be established with a minimum of discovery, due to the public reporting requirements. The short-selling miners are the easiest initial targets, but the real deep pockets belong to the bullion banks and dealers. These banksters should fall like dominoes, once the miners are found liable. I would imagine that the mere filing of a lawsuit, with its attendant publicity, might be enough to focus sufficient attention on the manipulation, and weaken or break the anti-free market forces.

The time for rhetoric is over. It's time for action. The time for a lawsuit is now. I wouldn't ask anyone to do something that I could do myself, so I plan to sue them myself. But not a lawyer and I need your help. Help me find a good lawyer who wants to undertake an honorable fight and end the existence of a seriously defective product, that has damaged tens of thousands. He or she must be able to do it on a contingency basis, but the potential reward is staggering. Legal history will be made. Of course, I will render assistance to the very best of my ability. The time has come to take the gloves off, and get this scam into the open light of a court of law. There can be no other way.