You are here

Does Rothschild know something?

Section: Daily Dispatches

U.S. coin dealer continues suit against Barrick
despite court decision to seal some documents

By Drew Hasselback
National Post/Financial Post, Toronto
Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Blanchard and Co., a U.S. coin dealer that accuses
Barrick Gold Corp. of manipulating the price of gold,
will proceed with its lawsuit in U.S. federal court
despite losing a motion on discovery rules.

Blanchard is suing Barrick and J.P. Morgan Chase
& Co. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of Louisiana in New Orleans, alleging Barrick and J.P.
Morgan used hedging to manipulate the gold price and
generate illegal profits of US$2 billion. Barrick
and J.P. Morgan deny the allegations.

Last November the judge overseeing the case ordered
the matter advance to the discovery stage. That's where
all parties to the action must exchange documents and
testimony so they can prepare for a full-blown trial.

A U.S. magistrate was asked to establish some ground
rules on whether Barrick will have to hand over some
internal documents containing what it considers
confidential and competitive information. Daniel Knowles
III, the magistrate in New Orleans, considered the matter
and issued a 32-page ruling that could toughen things for
Blanchard. The magistrate has set up a two-tiered
process under which Barrick or J.P. Morgan can restrict
access to sensitive internal documents.

Documents considered confidential would be made available
only to experts and lawyers involved in the lawsuit.
The documents would not be made public or released to
Blanchard employees.

"There exists good cause to impose the restrictions,"
Mr. Knowles ruled. He said the parties to the suit should
"designate only the material which they believe in good
faith merits the protection assigned."

Neal Ryan, spokesman for New Orleans-based
Blanchard, said the two-tiered system could slow things
down if there's a constant debate over which documents
are declared confidential and which are not.

"We could get into a process where we could have to say
a document is not confidential, they would say it is, and
there would have to be a ruling for the court," Mr.Ryan
said.

Mr. Ryan said Blanchard may appeal the magistrate's
ruling, though it does not consider the decision fatal to
the lawsuit.

Barrick spokesman Vince Borg said the magistrate's
decision was quite clear. Barrick will be prepared should
Blanchard decide to proceed with an appeal, he added.

----------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:

gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:

gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

----------------------------------------------------

RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Free sites:

http://www.jsmineset.com

http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com

http://www.mineweb.com/

http://www.gold-eagle.com/

http://www.kitco.com/

http://www.usagold.com/

http://www.GoldSeek.com/

http://www.capitalupdates.com/

http://www.goldenbar.com/

http://www.silver-investor.com

http://www.thebulliondesk.com/

http://www.sharelynx.com/

http://www.mininglife.com/

http://www.financialsense.com

http://www.goldensextant.com

http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html

http://www.howestreet.com

http://www.depression2.tv

http://www.moneyfiles.org/

http://www.howestreet.com

http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html

http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html

http://www.goldcolony.com

http://www.miningstocks.com

http://www.mineralstox.com

http://www.321gold.com

http://www.SilverSeek.com

http://www.investmentrarities.com

http://www.kuik.com/KH/KH.html
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)

http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)

Subscription site:

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/

http://www.hsletter.com

Eagle Ranch discussion site:

http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm

Ted Butler silver commentary archive:

http://www.investmentrarities.com/

----------------------------------------------------

COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS

Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave.
Suite 403
Denver, Colorado 80206
www.USAGold.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
US (800) 869-5115
Canada 1-800-294-9462
European Union 00-800-2760-2760
Australia 0011-800-2760-2760
cpm@usagold.com

Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net

El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net

Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com

Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com

Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com

Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel

Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com

Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com

----------------------------------------------------

HOW TO HELP GATA

If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.

By check:

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA

By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:

http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html

By GoldMoney:

http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L

Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled "GATA."

GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.