Grabar Law Office serves as co-counsel in a nationwide class action against the major platinum and palladium dealers Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Standard Bank, and BASF, for manipulation of key benchmarks used to price platinum and palladium, known as the “Platinum and Palladium Fixings.”
According to the allegations, these entities meet twice a day by teleconference in order to establish a global price for these commodities in the world market. The prices set during these “fixings” also determine the prices of platinum and palladium-based financial products, traded on NYMEX. The plaintiffs allege that for at least eight years, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Standard Bank, and BASF used their influence over the Platinum and Palladium Fixings to manipulate the prices for these metals to enrich themselves at the expense of other market participants. The manipulative conduct included front running and “spoofing” of buy and sell orders. These entities allegedly shared and discussed customer order flows so they could better coordinate their strategies and increase their own financial gains. Investors in these commodities and platinum- or palladium-based financial products, like NYMEX platinum or palladium futures and options, lost millions of dollars as a result of this conduct.
