In re: Commodity Exchange, Inc., Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation
The Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays Bank plc, Deutsche Bank Ag, HSBC Bank plc and Société Générale are all members of the London Gold Market Fixing Ltd., which conducts the London Gold Fixing. The London Gold Fixing is a twice daily process where the defendants set an important benchmark price for gold. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants conspired to manipulate this benchmark for their collective benefit. Plaintiffs further allege that they were injured because defendants’ manipulation caused prices for gold-based derivatives contracts, physical gold, and gold-based securities to be made artificial. Various government financial authorities in the U.S. and abroad are currently looking at the London Gold Fixing process.
The complaint is available here.
Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint through three separate motions, the first filed by the Fixing Banks, the second filed by LGMF, and the third filed by UBS. On October 3, 2016, Judge Caproni substantially denied the Fixing Banks’ and LGMF’s motions to dismiss, allowing plaintiffs’ antitrust and Commodity Exchange Act claims to proceed to discovery. Judge Caproni granted UBS’s motion to dismiss.
The opinion is available here.
On December 2, 2016, Deutsche Bank AG agreed to a $60 million settlement. The deal represents an “icebreaker” settlement while litigation continues against the other defendants. On December 9, 2016, Judge Caproni granted preliminary approval of the settlement.
The preliminary approval is available here.
On December 7, 2020, Berger Montague and its co-lead counsel notified the court that HSBC Bank plc agreed to pay a $42 million settlement, bringing the combined total of settlement achieved in the matter to $102 million. The litigation continues against the four remaining defendants.
