text:
Submitted by Catherine Austin Fitts Of The Solari Report
This article was inspired by a conversation in January 2010 with
fellow directors of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee: Chairman Bill
Murphy, Secretary/Treasurer Chris Powell, and Directors Adrian Douglas
and Ed Steer. In speaking about the growing role of the exchange traded
funds in the precious metals market, it was clear that the disclosure
that the precious metals ETFs described below were providing to
investors was inadequate. However, was there a material omission under
securities law? I found the issues complex. Understanding the
commodities markets can seem daunting to someone like myself with a
securities background. Meanwhile, the securities markets and related
legal and regulatory issues can be unfamiliar to those with a
background in commodities. I decided to ask my attorney to help me
gather the relevant information into one document to make it easier for
GATA supporters and other interested parties—whether from the
commodities or securities markets—to examine these issues and to better
understand and price these securities.
- Catherine Austin Fitts
Download a PDF version of this article
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Exchange Traded Funds
III. GLD and SLV
IV. ETF – Securities Law Regulation and Disclosure Obligations
V. Commodities and Commodities Futures Markets and Their Regulation
VI. Questions Regarding Risk Issues
VII. Summary
The purpose of this article is to describe the apparent failure on
the part of the two largest precious metals exchange traded funds
("ETFs") to disclose material information to potential investors
- Custodian Conflicts of Interest
- Market Irregularities
- Market Manipulation
- Leased Bullion
- Role of ETFs in Commodities Market Pricing and Trading
gold and silver exchange traded funds, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase, held
more than 35 million ounces of gold (approximately $35B market value of
gold on September 30, 2009) and 305 million ounces of silver
(approximately $5.2B market value of silver on December 31, 2009),
respectively, on behalf of security holders while at the same time
holding significant over-the-counter derivatives in both gold and
silver and significant short positions in both gold and silver on the
two American banks, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC USA, hold well over 90% of
all the U.S. precious metals derivatives in both gold and silver with
JPMorgan holding the lion's share. According to the CFTC's Commitment of Traders Report,
once the market-neutral spreads are removed, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC
USA between them are short more than 30% of the entire COMEX silver
market on a net basis with JPMorgan Chase, once again, holding the vast
majority of these short positions.1
commodities market irregularities and irregularities in gold bar
reports call into question whether sufficient physical precious metals
supplies exist to satisfy all claimed ownership positions and the
potential effects on the gold and silver ETFs in the event of an high
demand for physical delivery of gold and silver. We might consider
whether significant recent withdrawals from the major silver ETF should
be disclosed to shareholders if the sponsor or other insider has inside
information about the causes of such withdrawals. No such disclosure
has been made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as
of this writing. If such redemption is used by precious metals traders
to minimize the effect on market price of their purchases of large
quantities of bullion (see, "GLD and SLV" below), perhaps the market
should have this information so that traders are not misled by market
prices into thinking that demand is lower than it is.
commodities/futures markets are manipulated persist and are supported
by an increasing body of documentation.2
Given the fact (reported in Bank Participation Reports issued by the
OCC) that a very few banks, which may include the ETF Custodians and
Authorized Participants, hold record short positions, we think that the
possible effect on gold and silver ETF prices if such allegations are
proved true should be disclosed. This is of particular importance given
the various relationships between the ETF Custodians and other
institutions involved in GLD and SLV and the Federal Reserve System
("Federal Reserve") and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("NY Fed")
serving as depository for the U.S. government and as agent for the Exchange Stabilization Fund
("ESF"). The ESF allows the Secretary of the Treasury to deal in gold,
foreign exchange, and other instruments of credit and securities.
to contribute (or at least do not expressly prohibit them from
contributing) to the ETFs gold and silver leased from central banks
instead of precious metals to which the Authorized Participants hold
absolute legal title. If permitted, such activity would call into
question the position of the ETFs with respect to such metals should
precious metals markets in general experience marked price shifts or
the ETFs or the Authorized Participants experience financial hardship
or collapse.
particularly in light of the role in commodities trading played by key
parties in these funds, an explanation of the role of such key parties
in commodities and futures market trading and the effect of their
trades on market prices and futures prices would seem to be in order,
and to be a potentially material factor in an investor's decision
whether to be a part of the larger "scheme." Suspicions abound that a
factor in the creation of these vehicles is the attraction of retail
investment funds, including funds from qualified plans, public and
private pension plans and IRAs, for an undisclosed purpose to serve the
interests of bullion banks, the sponsors and undisclosed market
We also (a) explore whether the failure to disclose the foregoing
facts and issues constitutes "material omissions" under federal
securities laws, in particular, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
(b) put the disclosed risks in the context of market and other factors
that are not explained to prospective investors and (c) explain why the
disclosures that are made in public documents are inadequate to provide
investors with meaningful explanations of the inherent risks of
Investors deserve a clear picture of what they are buying so they
can make informed decisions about whether they want to buy and at what
price. We believe the disclosures regarding GLD and SLV are inadequate.
Given the conflicts of interest of the Custodian banks and the general
state of standards and ethics within the bullion banking community, we
believe the market discounts of GLD and SLV to silver and gold melt
value are more than warranted. At best, GLD and SLV are simply a bank
deposit priced in spot prices without the benefit of government deposit
insurance. At worst, GLD and SLV are vehicles by which investors
provide the banking community with the resources to control and
manipulate the precious metals market without adequate compensation.
SPDR Gold Trust (originally known as "StreetTracks") ("GLD") and
iShares Silver Trust ("SLV") are exchange-traded funds backed by gold
and silver, respectively. The term "exchange traded fund" is not a
precise legal term defined by statute as is, for example, an investment
company (of which mutual funds are a sub-category, legally referred to
as open-end management investment companies), but rather a market term,
like "hedge fund," that takes in a range of investment vehicles
differing from each other in legally significant ways. Both hedge funds
and exchange-traded funds, at least under current law, are investment
vehicles created as they are for the express purpose of avoiding some
or all regulation under securities laws that apply to investment
companies and traditional corporate stocks. See, "ETF – Securities Law
Regulation and Disclosure Obligations" below. Because they are not
commodity pool operators and do not trade in commodities futures, GLD and SLV are not regulated by the CFTC.
defines an exchange traded fund as "a security that tracks an index, a
commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a
stock on an exchange" and explains that because an ETF trades on an
exchange, unlike a mutual fund, it does not calculate its net asset
value every day. In other words, the price of the fund is determined by
supply and demand in the public market for securities of that fund
rather than by net asset value computed based upon the value of the
assets it holds (less expenses). This statement is true as far as it
goes, but ETFs, and GLD and SLV in particular, differ from mutual funds
in several other important respects that greatly affect investors,
particularly in the event of any market irregularities, fund/management
problems or underlying asset-related issues.
A mutual fund or company whose stock is listed on an exchange
generally is a separate entity in which investors own equity interests
and, generally, have some voting power. This voting power may be
somewhat limited but, ultimately, on matters of overriding importance,
the equity holders generally have some say or the ability to remove
management. The issuer of the securities may be a corporation, a
general or limited partnership, a limited liability company or a
business trust formed under and taking its existence from state law. In
each case, state law designates the management responsible for
decision-making of the entity:
- Corporation: board of directors
- Limited liability company: managing members
- Business trust: trustee
- Partnership: general partner or managing general partner
In the case of an investment company, which could take various legal
forms for state law purposes, an investment adviser is appointed to
make investment decisions on behalf of the entity (whether it be a
trust, corporation or limited liability company) and its equity
holders. Under state law, management has a fiduciary duty to guard the
interests of the passive equity holders (i.e., investors) and usually,
at least in the case of malfeasance on the part of management, the
equity holders may replace management.
Shares in an ETF like GLD or SLV are more like mortgage-backed
securities than mutual fund shares or listed stocks. What the investor
holds is an undivided interest in the underlying assets (gold and
silver in the case of precious metals ETFs, mortgages in the case of an
MBS), not an equity interest in an entity. The assets are held by a
passive trust that is not a separate state-law entity. The trustee's
and custodian's limited responsibilities are set out at the creation of
the trust and execution of the custodial agreement, with no mechanism
for any later change in those responsibilities in the event of a change
in circumstances and no direct accountability to investors, who are not
in "privity of contract" with these service providers (generally, a
requirement to sue under the contract).5
The long and the short of it is that when one owns shares in an ETF,
one has only those rights that are set forth in the formation and
structural documents, not those imposed by an exchange like the NYSE
(which imposes certain corporate governance requirements on its listed
state entity governance laws, federal securities laws governing proxy
voting or the Investment Company Act, which imposes various disclosure
and conflict of interest avoidance requirements (as described in more
detail below). With respect to the underlying assets, an ETF holder's
rights are limited by contract (in the case of GLD and SLV, the
custodial agreements (called the Allocated Bullion Account Agreement
and Unallocated Bullion Account Agreement in the case of GLD) and the
trust indenture). The investor's property interest in the assets is
several steps removed from being the same as the outright "fee"
interest the holder would have in, for example, bullion held at home or
in a safe deposit box and more attenuated than would be the case with
an investment like Central Fund of Canada (where security holders hold
a direct undivided interest in a company the assets of which are
limited to precious metals (and cash as underwriting proceeds prior to
precious metals purchases and for expenses.))
As noted in a December, 2008 article "A Problem with GLD and SLV ETFs," the provisions of the custodial agreements and trust indentures for GLD and SLV place significant limits upon:
- assurances as to the purity of the gold or
silver ("Neither the Trustee nor the Custodian independently confirms
the fineness of the gold allocated to the Trust.")7
- the
liability of the Custodian for loss (e.g., even in the event of
intentional or reckless conduct resulting in loss, the loss is limited
to the value of the metals on the date of the misdeed, not the value
upon discovery);
- the thoroughness and reliability of audits of the physical gold in the vaults of the Custodian and subcustodians8
(e.g., the GLD Trustee apparently does not have access to gold held in
vaults of the unidentified subcustodian[s] or subcustodian[s] of the
subcustodian[s]), although the SLV Trustee does9); and
- the obligation of the Trustee to insure the precious metals held in the custodial vaults (there is no such obligation).10
Our review of the documents themselves reveals, in addition, that:
- Under the GLD trust indenture, the Trust
indemnifies the Sponsor and its officers, directors, employees,
affiliates, shareholders and subsidiaries against liability for claims
in connection with the Sponsor's performance of duties under the trust
indenture in the event of negligence or other actions that fall short
of gross negligence, recklessness and willful malfeasance, and the
Sponsor has a lien on Trust assets for what is due it under this
clause. The Trustee and its directors, officers, employees, agents
affiliates and subsidiaries are also similarly indemnified, but their
indemnification also extends to securities law liabilities. If any of
these individuals or entities makes a claim, the Trust (read
"investors") pay. The SLV trust indenture contains similar provisions.
- Under
the GLD marketing agent agreement, the Sponsor in turn indemnifies the
Marketing Agent against liability under, among other things, the
Securities Act of 1933. Presumably, the Sponsor may be reimbursed by
the Trustee from assets of the Trust for any claim by the Marketing
Agent under this provision.
In a later (January, 2009) follow-up article, "Another Problem with the Gold ETF," author Trace Mayer points out what he and James Turk of Gold Money [see his 3/5/07 article "The Paper Game"]
consider to be waffling language used in the GLD prospectus regarding
the assets held by the Trust (sometimes "gold" and sometimes
"investment in gold".) They question whether GLD actually holds gold
futures or some other paper-based form of gold other than bullion. We
have no way of answering this question, of course, but note that (a)
the definition of "Gold" in the trust indenture clearly means the
precious metal, assuming that London Good Delivery Standards suffice.
Similarly, according to the SLV trust indenture, "[s]ilver" means (a)
silver that meets the requirements of "good delivery" under the rules
of the LBMA and (b) credit to an account on an Unallocated Basis
representing the right to receive silver that meets the requirements of
part (a) of this definition."
- The GLD Participant Agreement provides (page 3):
"The Authorized Participant acknowledges that it is an unsecured
creditor of the Custodian with respect to the Gold held in the
Authorized Participant's Participant Unallocated Account and that such
Gold is at risk in the event of the Custodian's insolvency."
Since the investor derives his or her position through
an investment held by the Trust through the custodial agreements,
including both the Allocated and Unallocated Bullion Account
Agreements, it appears that the Authorized Participant's risk while
gold is held in unallocated form is also the risk of the investor
unless the Authorized Participant is willing to cover any fund losses.11
According to the GLD prospectus, the maximum amount of gold that it
expects may be held in unallocated form by the Custodian of GLD at the
end of any day is 430 ounces. The maximum amount of silver that may be
held in unallocated form by the Custodian of SLV is 1,100 ounces.12
There may be some risk in the case of GLD that even allocated gold may
be subject to dispute over owner identification, because it appears
that the segregation is only on the books of the Custodian and not in
physical terms.13
- The SLV trust indenture (Section 5.9) provides:
"The Trustee is authorized to destroy those documents, records, bills
and other data compiled during the term of this Agreement at the times
permitted by the laws or regulations governing the Trustee, unless the
Sponsor reasonably requests the Trustee in writing to retain those
items for a longer period."
- The SLV trust indenture (Section 5.3) severely
limits liability of the Trustee and the Sponsor to investors in
iShares, providing the following warnings:
"(a) Neither the Sponsor nor the Trustee assumes any obligation
nor shall either of them be subject to any liability under this
Agreement to any Registered Owner or Beneficial Owner or Depositor
(including, without limitation, liability with respect to the worth of
the Trust Property), except that each of them agrees to perform its
obligations specifically set forth in this Agreement without negligence
or bad faith.
(b) Neither the Sponsor nor the Trustee shall be under
any obligation to prosecute any action, suit or other proceeding in
respect of any Trust Property or in respect of the Shares on behalf of
a Registered Owner, Beneficial Owner, Depositor or other Person.
(c) Neither the Sponsor nor the Trustee shall be liable
for any action or non-action by it in reliance upon the advice of or
information from legal counsel, accountants, any Depositor, any
Registered Owner or any other person believed by it in good faith to be
competent to give such advice or information.
(d) The Trustee shall not be liable for any acts or
omissions made by a successor Trustee whether in connection with a
previous act or omission of the Trustee or in connection with any
matter arising wholly after the resignation of the Trustee, provided
that in connection with the issue out of which such potential liability
arises the Trustee performed its obligations without negligence or bad
faith while it acted as Trustee.
(e) The Trustee and the Sponsor shall have no obligation
to comply with any direction or instruction from any Registered Owner
or Beneficial Owner or Depositor regarding Shares except to the extent
specifically provided in this Agreement.
(f) The Trustee shall be a fiduciary under this
Agreement; provided, however, that the fiduciary duties and
responsibilities and liabilities of the Trustee shall be limited by,
and shall be only those specifically set forth in, this Agreement."14
Similarly, the SLV trust indenture (Section 5.5) provides that the
Custodian is responsible solely to the Trustee. Whether these
limitations on liability are enforceable under English law (which
governs the SLV agreements) is a complex legal question we cannot
answer, but we note that the Clifford Chance legal opinion in
connection with the issuance of the iShares15 contains 26 reservations
and many assumptions.
described above, GLD and SLV are the largest precious metals ETFs in
the market. Specific information about their founding, their key
parties and their key documents is provided below. Although their
Sponsors are unaffiliated and their Custodians are unaffiliated, the
funds are similarly structured and have the same auditor, Deloitte
& Touche, the same Trustee, Bank of New York Mellon, and a law firm
in common, Clifford Chance. It would not be unfair to say that SLV is
the silver version of an earlier-formed gold fund sponsored by the gold
producers and bullion banks.
The structures of the funds are similar and quite complex: according
to the prospectus descriptions, the investor purchases shares that come
into existence when one or more broker-dealers (each, an "Authorized
Participant") that have pre-existing Participation Agreements with the
fund, purchase LBMA-compliant gold or silver bullion and deposit the
bullion in an unallocated bullion account in increments of 50,000
shares of SLV (initially, 500,000 ounces of silver) or 100,000 shares
of GLD to form "baskets" in the Trust. Then the "baskets" are broken up
into smaller shares that are sold to investors. Redemption of shares
for gold or silver can take place only in "baskets," usually exchanged
by Authorized Participants. Investors cannot redeem shares for gold or
silver except in the "basket" increments. As explained above, what the
investor owns is an undivided interest in the assets of the Trust, not
any allocable portion of a precious metal.
Custody of the gold and silver resides with the Custodian of each
fund and subcustodians. The precious metals held by the Custodians are
held in England and the agreements are governed by English law. The
Custodians may appoint subcustodians to hold bullion.16
The location of such subcustodians may not be limited to England (see
below), so there may be some issue as to what law would apply in the
case of bullion held in other countries. Note that the GLD Annual
Report on Form 10K (page 23) discloses that the Custodian is not
required to and does not expect to enter into written subcustodial
contracts with subcustodians, and this fact poses a risk that the
ability to take legal action against the subcustodians for failure to
use due care in safekeeping of the gold may be limited.
Provisions for audit of the bullion held of record by the Custodian
and subcustodians on behalf of the Trusts are limited. For example, on
page 4 of the SLV Custodian Agreement, the Custodian describes limits
on access by the Sponsor and auditors:
regular banking hours, any such officer or properly designated
representative, any independent public accountants for the Trust
identified by you and any person designated by any regulatory authority
having jurisdiction over you or the Trust will be entitled to examine
on our premises the Silver held by us on our premises pursuant to this
Agreement and our records regarding the Silver held hereunder at a
Sub-Custodian, but only upon receipt from you of properly authorised
instructions to that effect. Unless we have received at least ten days'
prior notice and reasonable assurances (in the our sole discretion)
that any costs and expenses incurred in connection therewith will be
indemnified to us, we shall not be required to move to our premises any
Silver held at a Sub-Custodian for purposes of making it available for
inspection as provided herein."
What the disclosure documents of GLD and SLV do not make clear, but
we are assured by reliable sources this is the case, is that the
Sponsors are the primary purchasers of bullion on behalf of the ETFs.
And that Authorized Participants (many of which are bullion banks) use
GLD and SLV as a means of purchasing bullion in a way that does not
cause an increase in the market price on the COMEX for gold or silver.
Thus, they can redeem "baskets" of gold or silver in large amounts from
GLD or SLV, leaving the COMEX price unaffected. We did not find in any
public disclosure documents (other than in the no-action letter itself)
any mention of a grant of relief by the SEC, in the form of an SEC
no-action letter to GLD, allowing GLD to be treated as an open-end
investment company for purposes of margin requirements. Thus, GLD
shares may themselves be sold short.
iShares Silver Trust
A. General Information
the symbol "SLV". Prior to that, the iShares were traded on the
American Stock Exchange ("AMEX"), also under the symbol "SLV," since
their initial public offering on April 21, 2006."
400,000 troy ounces (1 troy ounce = 1.0971428 ounces avoirdupois (an
ounce equal to 16 drams and 1/16th pound), with a minimum fineness of
12/31/09: 310,700,000
12/31/09: 221,250,000
12/31/09: $5,183,153,950
12/31/08: $2,355,597,515
12/31/09: 305,206,000 ounces
12/31/08: 218,399,700 ounces
B. Key Documents
Annual Report on Form 10K filed 2/26/10
SEC No-Action Letter filed 8/11/06, in which the SEC determined
that, in light of the special characteristics of the iShares Trust and
the fact that the Trust cannot technically comply with the requirements
of Sarbanes-Oxley Act due to its lack of internal management and the
limited nature of its operations, it would take no enforcement action
if the iShares Sponsor were to make its Sarbanes Oxley Act
certifications as proposed in the letter, signed by the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the iShares Sponsor.
Custodian Agreement Between JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., London Branch and Bank of New York
Form of Depositary Trust Agreement between the Sponsor and the Trustee
Form of Authorized Participant Agreement between Authorized Participants and the Trustee
C. Key Parties
Sponsor – BlackRock Asset Management International, Inc. BlackRock Fund Investors, an affiliate of the Sponsor, is a registered investment adviser and as of February 2010, had investment advisory agreements with 179 'iShare" brand funds.
"BlackRock" reportedly became the largest money management company in
the world after merging with the original SLV sponsor, Barclays Global
Investors, on December 1, 2009, but we believe that this statement may
refer to all BlackRock, Inc. affiliates (the "BlackRock Group") and not just a single entity.
Barclays Global Investors, the original sponsor of SLV, was a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings
Limited, which was supervised by UK Financial Service Authority, itself
a subsidiary of Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Global Investors, however,
was not subject to any direct regulatory oversight in the U.S. or the
UK. Similarly, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc., the
entity that currently sponsors SLV, is not a registered investment
adviser, although a number of its affiliates are. Little information is
available to the public about the Sponsor itself, a private company.
Signatories for iShares prospectus:
- Michael A. Latham, Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc.
- Geoffrey D. Flynn, Chief Financial Officer, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc.
Chief executive officers of BlackRock, Inc:
- Laurence D. Fink — Chairman & CEO
- Robert S. Kapito — President
- Robert W. Fairbairn - Vice Chairman, Head of Global Client Group
Board of Directors of BlackRock, Inc.:
- Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, Inc.
- Abdlatif Y. Al-Hamad, Director General/Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development
- Mathis Cabiallavetta, Vice Chairman of Swiss Re
- Dennis
D. Dammerman, Former Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Officer,
General Electric Company and Chairman and CEO, General Electric Capital
Services, Inc.
- William S. Demcha, Senior Vice Chairman, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and PNC Bank
- Robert E. Diamond Jr., President of Barclays PLC
- Kenneth
B. Dunn, Ph.D., Dean and Professor of Financial Economics at the David
A. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University
- Murry S. Gerber, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, EQT Corporation
- James Grosfeld, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pulte Homes, Inc.
- Robert S. Kapito, President, BlackRock, Inc.
- David H. Komansky, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
- Sallie L. Krawcheck, President of Global Wealth & Investment Management, Bank of America
- Mark D. Linsz, Corporate Treasurer, Bank of America
- Sir Deryck Maughan, Partner and Head of Financial Institutions Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
- Thomas H. O'Brien, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
- Linda Gosden Robinson, Chairman, Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, LLC
- James E. Rohr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
- John Varley, Group Chief Executive of Barclays PLC
According to Wikipedia (3/2010),
the iShares arm of BlackRock, with $290B in assets, or half of the U.S.
ETF industry, accounted for about 45% of the company's revenues in
2008, before the merger with Barclays.
Custodian – JPMorgan Chase Bank NA,
(acting through its London Branch), a national banking association
supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Under
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's functional regulatory scheme, JPMorgan Chase
& Co., its parent, is subject to the "umbrella" regulation of the
Federal Reserve Board. JPMorgan Chase is not obligated to take custody
of more than 400MM troy ounces of silver for the Trust. If this limit
is exceeded, the Trustee will appoint an additional custodian with the
consent of the Sponsor.17
JPMC Board Members:
- Crandall C. Bowles, Chairman of Springs Industries, Inc.
- Stephen B. Burke, President of Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.
- David M. Cote, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell International Inc.
- James S. Crown, President of Henry Crown and Company
- James Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase
- Ellen V. Futter, President and Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History
- William H. Gray, III, Chairman of the Amani Group
- Laban P. Jackson, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clear Creek Properties, Inc.
- David C. Novak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yum! Brands, Inc.
- Lee R. Raymond, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation
- William C. Weldon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson
Subcustodians – At the risk of the Custodian, JPMorgan Chase may
appoint subcustodians of its choosing, provided they are members of
LBMA and hold the silver in England (unless the Trustee and Sponsor
grant permission for the silver to be held outside England). JPMorgan
Chase remains responsible to the Trustee for silver held by any
subcustodian to the same extent as if it were holding the silver
Trustee – Bank of New York Mellon,18 a New York banking corporation subject to supervision by the New York State Banking Department and the Federal Reserve Board.
Signatory for iShares prospectus:
Auditor – Deloitte & Touche.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, a membership organization
under the Swiss Civil Code whereby each member firm is a separate and
independent legal entity. Hence, Deloitte & Touche in New York,
which serves as an auditor to the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve and the twelve Federal Reserve Banks, including the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, is legally separate from the Deloitte &
Touch in London that serves as an auditor of the World Gold Council.
Legal Counsel – Clifford Chance US LLP.
David Yeres signed the SLV no-action letter filed with the SEC on
behalf of Clifford Chance. Mr. Yeres is a former Assistant U.S.
Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and former counsel to the
Chairman of the CFTC. The Clifford Chance website states that his
practice "concentrates principally on derivative transaction law matters."
SPDR Gold Trust
A. General Information
since December 13, 2007, after a transfer from the New York Stock
Exchange, or NYSE, where the Shares were listed since its initial
public offering on November 18, 2004. The Shares have traded on the
Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores) since August 10,
2006, on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited since
October 11, 2006, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since June 30, 2008 and
the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since July 31, 2008."
9/30/08: 246,500,000
9/30/07: 187,900,000
9/30/06: 125,100,000
9/30/05: 66,900,000
11/12/04 holding at inception of operations: 30,000 oz.
B. Key Documents
Annual Report on Form 10K filed 11/25/09
Form S-3 Registration Statement filed 3/19/09 (including prospectus)
Singapore prospectus (226 pages); Singapore Gold Shares Website
Form of Trust Indenture between World Gold Trust Services, LLC and HSBC Bank USA
Form of Custody Agreement (Allocated Bullion Account Agreement)
Form of Custody Agreement (Unallocated Bullion Account Agreement)
Allocated Bullion Account Agreement between HSBC Bank USA, National Association and Bank of New York as Trustee
Amendment No. 1 to Allocated Bullion Account Agreement
Unallocated Bullion Account Agreement between HSBC Bank USA, National Association and Bank of New York as Trustee
Payment and Reimbursement Agreement Between World Gold Trust Services, LLC (Sponsor) and the Bank of New York (Trustee)
Form of Depository Agreement (with Depository Trust Company relative to the securities)
Form of Marketing Agent Agreement
World Gold Trust Services, LLC Code of Business Conduct and Ethics dated November, 2004
Limited Liability Company Agreement of World Gold Trust Services, LLC
SEC No Action Letter dated 2/18/05
(stating the SEC would take no enforcement action if the Sponsor's
parent provided Sarbanes-Oxley Act certifications, since the Sponsor
has no officers or board of directors)
SEC No Action Letter dated 11/17/04
(stating the SEC would take no enforcement action regarding (i) certain
short sales of GLD other than on an uptick and extensions of credit on
the GLD shares, (ii) the iShares Trust is treated as an open-end
investment company for purposes of margin accounts), granted on the
date of filing of the request letter with the SEC.
C. Key Parties
Sponsor – World Gold Trust Services, LLC, the sole member of which is the World Gold Council,
a not-for-profit Swiss trade organization headquartered in London
founded in 1987 by the world's leading gold mining companies "with the
aim of stimulating and maximizing the demand for, and holding of Gold."
Managing Director, World Gold Council
(principal executive officer); formerly of Northern Trust and Morgan Stanley
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
(principal financial officer and principal accounting officer); also a
director of Dubai Gold Investments DMCC; formerly finance director and
managing director of UK subsidiary of TEGE.
Custodian – HSBC Bank USA, NA,
a national banking association supervised by the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. HSBC's
London operations (where the GLD gold vault of the Custodian is
located) are subject to additional supervision by the UK Financial
Services Authority. According to the iShares no action letter to the
SEC, HSBC is a market-maker, clearer, approved weigher and authorized
depository under the rules of the London Bullion Market Association.
Subcustodians – The Bank of England
and London Bullion Market Association market-making members that
provide bullion vaulting and clearing services to third parties are
listed as possible subcustodians, but there is no limitation as to who
can serve as subcustodian (other than the Custodian's obligation to use
reasonable care in their selection) or where such subcustodians are
located. Subcustodians may appoint additional subcustodians. The
Allocated Bullion Account Agreement, Section 8.1, says that at its
execution, the Custodian was using Bank of Nova Scotia (ScotiaMocatta),
Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorganChase Bank and UBS AG as subcustodians, and
that the Custodian would notify the Trustee if it were to use
additional subcustodians. Subcustodians may also hold precious metals
for the Custodian's own account.
Trustee – Bank of New York Mellon,19 a New York banking corporation subject to supervision by the New York State Banking Department and the Federal Reserve Board.
Auditor – Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Legal Counsel – Katten Muchin Rosenman; Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP (tax counsel); Clifford Chance Pte Ltd. (counsel in connection with Singapore prospectus); Davenport Lyons (English counsel in connection with filing of registration statement in 2006).
Marketing Agent – State Street Global Markets, LLC.
Distribution Agent – UBS Securities LLC.
A. Securities Law Ramifications
The GLD and SLV ETFs are grantor trusts that hold precious metals
and issue securities representing undivided interests in the assets of
the Trusts. Due to their size and the fact that they issue securities,
they are required to issue prospectuses in accordance with the
Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") in order to sell their shares
and then, following their initial public offerings, to engage in
periodic reporting as public companies under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act").
mutual funds, however, they operate under an exemption from investment
company registration under the Investment Company Act of ("Investment
Company Act") and their operators may not be required to register as
investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
("Investment Advisers Act"). As noted above, the Sponsor of SLV is not
a registered investment adviser, even though the Sponsor's role with
respect to the Trust is analogous to the role a registered investment
adviser plays with respect to a mutual fund for which it serves as an
investment adviser. The exemption from Investment Company Act
registration means that the many conflict-of-interest rules dictating
independent boards and disclosure of transactions between the
investment fund and related parties and qualifications of members of
management do not apply to GLD and SLV. The SEC's website describes the
Investment Company Act as follows:
funds, that engage primarily in investing, reinvesting, and trading in
securities, and whose own securities are offered to the investing
public. The regulation is designed to minimize conflicts of interest
that arise in these complex operations."
of the Sponsors of GLD and SLV from registration under the Investment
Advisers Act means that the answers to many conflict-of-interest
questions do not have to be disclosed to the SEC or consumers of their
investment advisory services. See, Form ADV Parts 1 and 2
for information that must be disclosed by registered investment
advisers and made available to the public on the Internet and click here
and enter "BlackRock" to view the Form ADV filed by an affiliate of the
SLV Sponsor that is a registered investment adviser. Form ADV requires
responses to questions relating to both the registrant and its related
persons and affiliates and their relationships with clients, potential
conflicts of interest, share ownership, control persons, other lines of
business, sources of compensation and other matters about which little
public information is available for the Sponsors of GLD and SLV. Some
of this information would be disclosed in proxy materials of a typical
issuer of a publicly traded security, but since GLD and SLV
shareholders generally have no voting rights, GLD and SLV are not
required to file proxy statements with the SEC. Again, the investment
structure of GLD and SLV falls through the regulatory cracks.
GLD has availed itself of the no-action letter process (and perhaps
used some industry influence on the part of its key parties on SEC
policies and decision making) to gain relief from certain SEC rules,
notwithstanding its status as an exempt pool, purportedly with no
active management structure and no employees. Thus, the SEC provided
GLD with assurances that it would take no enforcement action if GLD
were to (1) look to the Sponsor's parent-entity for Sarbanes Oxley
attestations required of public companies, (2) treat itself as an
open-end investment company (i.e., mutual fund) for margin purposes,
thereby permitting its shares to be sold short and borrowed against and
(3) permit its shares to be sold short other than on an "up-tick." SLV
also was granted an SEC no-action letter on the Sarbanes-Oxley
attestation requirements. Note that the ETF requests for no-action
relief were granted in reliance upon assurances from counsel that the
funds operate as described in their petitions for relief. A review of
these no-action letter requests is instructive, because they provide
information to the SEC in a form that is more readable and more
understandable than information provided in the prospectuses. Also note
that with regard to the role of Authorized Participants in the purchase
of gold and silver for the ETFs, the no-action letter descriptions of
fund operations do not mention purchases of bullion by fund Sponsors.
As issuers of securities registered under the Securities Act, however,
both GLD and SLV are required to make disclosures in the prospectuses
they provide to investors as prescribed on Form S-3
under the rules and regulations of the SEC. The Form S-3, in turn,
draws for its contents on certain non-financial disclosure requirements
described in SEC's Regulation S-K and financial disclosure requirements described in SEC's Regulation S-X. GLD and SLV both filed automatic shelf registration statements as "well-known seasoned issuers,"
resulting in their prospectuses being eligible to go effective without
any advance review by the SEC. The absence of advance review, however,
does not relieve these issuers from complying with SEC requirements or
exempt them from anti-fraud rules in the event of any material
misstatements or omissions. Among the Regulation S-K disclosure
requirements applicable for Form S-3 filers like GLD and SLV is Item
503c. "Risk Factors," to wit:
"Risk Factors" a discussion of the most significant factors that make
the offering speculative or risky. This discussion must be concise and
organized logically. Do not present risks that could apply to any
issuer or any offering. Explain how the risk affects the issuer or the
securities being offered. Set forth each risk factor under a subcaption
that adequately describes the risk. The risk factor discussion must
immediately follow the summary section."
B. Sanctions for Fraudulent Disclosures and Failure to Disclose Matters of Importance to Shareholders
Failure to make required disclosures (or the making of false
statements) to public shareholders is a federal violation of Rule 10b-5
under the Exchange Act (among other antifraud rules), which provides:
indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate
commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities
- To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
- To
make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a
material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the
light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading,
- To engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person,
in connection with the purchase or sale of any security."
Rule 10b-5 violations can result in civil or criminal sanctions by the Securities and Exchange Commission20
and, most importantly for class counsel in investor class action
lawsuits, a private right of action on the part of any investor who
experiences a loss in the purchase or sale of a security by reason of a
materially false statement or omission by anyone owing a duty of
disclosure to the shareholder (e.g., anyone who signs a registration
statement or other SEC filing or anyone who issues a press release
regarding the issuer of the security). More limited actions are also
available against aiders and abettors of fraud.
A. Regulation of Purchase and Sale of Commodities
regulation exists of the purchase and sale of precious metals in the
United States, separate and apart from general state antifraud rules
applicable to any sales contract. Most policing of gold and silver
market activities occurs by reference of trading contracts to good
delivery rules of the London Bullion Market Association ("LBMA").
Page 3 of the SLV prospectus describes the silver purchasing process at the LBMA as follows:
can transact business on the basis of a single quoted price. Three
market making members of the LBMA conduct the silver fixing meeting
under the chairmanship of the Bank of Nova Scotia-Scotia Mocatta by
telephone at 12:00 noon (London time) each working day. The other two
members of the silver fixing are Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC Bank USA
N.A.(London branch). Orders executed at the fixing are conducted as
principal-to-principal transactions between the client and the dealer
through whom the order is placed. Clients place orders with the dealing
rooms of the fixing members, who net all the orders before
communicating their interest to their representative at the fixing. The
metal price is then adjusted to reflect whether there are more buyers
or sellers at a given price until such time as supply and demand is
seen to be balanced. Orders can be changed throughout the proceedings
as the price is moved higher and lower until such time as buyers' and
sellers' orders are satisfied and the price is said to be "fixed."
B. Commodities Futures Markets
In the case of a mutual fund that purchases stocks or bonds, both
the mutual fund itself and the assets it holds are subject to SEC
regulation and, in the absence of some exemption (e.g., for
government-issued securities) the securities must be registered with
the SEC. In the case of commodities, there is no such regulation.
Similarly, precious metals futures are subject to some (but less
extensive) regulation by the CFTC, but purchases and sales of the
commodities themselves are subject to no federal regulation. The SLV
prospectus makes the following disclosure in this regard:
futures contracts on any futures exchange, the trust is not regulated
by the CFTC under the Commodity Exchange Act as a "commodity pool," and
is not operated by a CFTC-regulated commodity pool operator. Investors
in the trust do not receive the regulatory protections afforded to
investors in regulated commodity pools, nor may COMEX or any futures
exchange enforce its rules with respect to the trust's activities. In
addition, investors in the trust does [sic] not benefit from the
protections afforded to investors in silver futures contracts on
regulated futures exchanges."
A precious metals commodity future is an option security traded on
an exchange (e.g., the COMEX, which is operated by a division of the
New York Mercantile Exchange) that may be thought of as a "derivative"
of the underlying asset (in this case, gold or silver) in that its
value is directly tied to the price of the underlying asset (in the
case of gold and silver, the current price is called the "spot" price).
As with a trade in a security option, when a commodity future is sold,
there is a seller who is prepared to deliver the underlying asset
(commodity) at a future date and a buyer who has the option to purchase
it on that date. Here is how Investopedia explains options:
(option writer) to another party (option holder). The contract offers
the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell
(put) a security or other financial asset at an agreed-upon price (the
strike price) during a certain period of time or on a specific date
(exercise date).
The term "short position" refers to the seller of a call or the
buyer of the put, each of which speculates that the price of the
commodity will go down between the date of the writing of the option
and the strike date. The "long position" refers to the counterparty of
the short position trader who owns an asset and therefore wants the
price to rise between the date of writing of the option and the strike
Originally, the role of the commodity futures market was as a
mechanism for those in the business of producing (e.g. a mining company
or farmer) or using a commodity (e.g., a jeweler or food producer) to
"hedge" against the risks to their business if the price of the
commodity rises or falls to their detriment in the future. In the
hedging world, the sellers actually own the commodity and the buyers
actually want to own the commodity. In the speculating world, however,
futures traders generally have no interest in owning the commodity –
they are making bets that they have a better "take" on the future
market than do the counterparties of their trades. When the person in
the short position on an option does not own the underlying security or
commodity, he or she is required (at least in the case of a security)
to borrow that asset so that the trade is "covered" and the short
trader has the ability to deliver the asset if the long trader wants to
take delivery. This borrowing generally is achieved by paying a sort of
rental fee to a broker-dealer, who then effectively freezes the asset
in the account of a customer who holds the asset in a margin account so
that the owner cannot sell it to anyone else before the strike date. If
the short trader does not borrow the asset, the trader's position is
called a "naked short," which, in the case of a security, in theory, is
illegal but relatively common. Some prominent gold and silver bugs
believe that many of the precious metals short option positions in the
market are naked, and that many more ounces of gold or silver have been
sold than can be delivered to the "long" traders. Naked short selling
is a manipulative practice, because it holds the market price down from
the price that would prevail if the market were honest.21
In the precious metals markets, it is possible for bullion banks to
lease gold or silver from the central banks at a nominal lease rate
(reportedly, in the range of 0.5-1.0%) in order to cover their short
positions. While this used to be a common practice, central bank leases
of gold bullion reportedly are rare in the current market. The
following is a description of the bullion leasing process in an article
by Adam Jay Doolittle entitled "Central Banks Lease Gold and Silver; Distorting Markets and Balance Sheets," published in Silver Monthly:
such as the Fed taking their gold or silver to an intermediary
institution known as a "bullion bank." Major firms such as Bank of
America, Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and UBS
all operate as bullion banks.
interest rate on the gold or silver, with the promise to return it at a
specified date. The bullion bank then takes the precious metal and
sells it on the open market . . ."
The existence of a precious metals lease market results in
"double-counting" of the metal, (a possible source for the fact that
more gold is reported to be held than probably exists). The result may
be an artificially low market price for these metals. Some gold market
participants consider the entire concept of gold and silver leasing to
be a fraud on the market.22
Information about the exact short positions in gold and silver held by
specific major commercial traders is not reported to the public
directly, but positions of the four major commercials may be
extrapolated from information reported to the Office of Comptroller of
Currency and published in the OCC Quarterly Report on Bank Derivative Activities, Table 9 and the weekly CFTC Commitment of Traders Report.
At the end of the fourth quarter, 2009, JPMorgan Chase, the Custodian
of silver for SLV, is believed to have had a short position of about
30% of the entire COMEX silver market (after removing market neutral
open interests contributed by spread trades) and about 25% of the
entire COMEX gold market, either for its own account or on behalf of
retail clients. Its position reportedly accounts for some 85% to 95% of
all commercial market derivatives positions on a regular basis.
Although there is no way to discern whether this position is a
principal position (for its own account) or agent position (on behalf
of private clients, government agencies or central banks), it
is difficult to believe that JPMorgan Chase just happens to have most
of the clients in the market who wish to hold short positions. JPMorgan
Chase clearly represents significant interests that intend or want
precious metals market prices to fall. Holders of SLV iShares on behalf
of whom JPMorgan Chase held, directly or indirectly, 305MM ounces of
silver at year's end, however, are in a long position with respect to
the metal, meaning that they believe the price of silver will rise in
the future (and want it to rise). HSBC is in a similar (although not as
pronounced) short position in the gold futures market while it holds
gold long on behalf of SLV investors. In our view, that this conflict
of interest on the part of the Custodians has not been disclosed to
investors is shocking.
The absence of these disclosures is particularly disturbing given the
potential conflicts between the banks' responsibilities serving as
custodians and trustee and their responsibilities and liabilities as
members and shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The
NY Fed serves as the depository for the US government and as agent for
the Exchange Stabilization Fund on behalf of the U.S. Secretary of
Treasury. The ESF allows the Secretary of the Treasury to deal in gold,
foreign exchange, and other instruments of credit and securities. NY
Fed member banks typically serve as agents of the NY Fed in providing
services. In addition, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC maintain
responsibilities as Primary Dealers of U.S. government securities. When
called upon to defend the U.S. government's interests in the bond
market, or the U.S. dollar's interest in the currency market, or to
help prevent another financial meltdown, whose interests will be
primary? Will it be the central bank and government with pressing
national security interests or retail investors?
A. Conflicts of Interest
The SEC disclosure documents filed on behalf of GLD and SLV (see
above links) include no disclosure that we found on the issue of
potential conflicts of interest by any key participants in these ETFs
in spite of the fact that the Custodians of both GLD (HSBC) and SLV
(JPMorgan Chase) are thought to hold the largest short gold and silver
positions in the market. In prepared testimony before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
on March 18, 2010, Bill Murphy of the Gold Anti-Trust Action League
makes the following statement in support of the imposition of position
limits in the gold and silver futures markets:
that just two U.S. banks held 43 percent of the commercial net short
position in gold and 68 percent of the commercial net short position in
silver. In gold these two banks were short 123,331 contracts but long
only 523 contracts, and in silver they were short 41,318 contracts and
long only 1,426 contracts. How improbable is it that these two banks
attract most of the investors who want to sell short [footnote
banks that hold these large manipulative short positions on the COMEX
are JPMorgan Chase and HSBC because of their huge positions in the OTC
derivatives market, whose regulator, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency, does not provide anonymity when it publishes market
data [footnote omitted]. In the first quarter 2009 OCC derivatives
report, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC held more than 95 percent of the gold
and precious metals derivatives of all U.S. banks, with a combined
notional value of $120 billion. This concentration dwarfs the
concentration in the gold and silver futures markets and should raise
great concern about the lack of position limits on the COMEX."
If investors in iShares and SPDR shares are benefited by increases
in the market prices of silver and gold (as, of course, they are) and
if it is true that HSBC and JPMorgan Chase have held major short
positions in these metals while acting as custodians for GLD and SLV,
does that not present a serious conflict of interest? At least in
theory, for every short position in a commodity, the seller should to
be able to "cover" the position by borrowing actual inventories of the
commodity or holding corresponding hedging securities in a long
If the Custodians for GLD and SLV hold short positions that must be
covered and at the same time have physical custody of sizable positions
of the metals against whose prices these banks are placing bets, it is
straining credulity to suggest that the long positions in their vaults
reportedly held on behalf of ETF investors have no relation to the
short positions they hold for themselves as principals. We suggest that
at the very least they are presented with material conflicts of
interest that should be disclosed to ETF investors whose investment
values are dependent upon the underlying assets being held exclusively
for their benefit.
B. Ownership of Precious Metals if / when Authorized Participants Contribute Gold and Silver Leased by Central Banks
As explained in more detail by David Ranson of Wainwright Economics in his March 11, 2010 article, "Who Owns the Metal in a Precious Metals ETF?"
if GLD and SLV do not require Authorized Participants to contribute
physical precious metals that they own outright in exchange for the
"Baskets" of the funds; the Authorized Participants might be able to
contribute gold or silver leased from central banks.24
We do not learn this from the ETFs' prospectuses or annual reports,
however. GLD's only mention of leased gold in its most recent Form 10K,
other than in a description of general market conditions, is on page 24
in the section entitled "Allocated Account," where it claims:
"The gold bars in an allocated gold account are specific to that
account and are identified by a list which shows, for each gold bar,
the refiner, assay or fineness, serial number and gross and fine
weight. Gold held in the Trust's allocated account is the property of
the Trust and is not traded, leased or loaned under any circumstances."25
The term "lease" does not appear in the recently-issued SLV prospectus.
If an Authorized Participant were to contribute leased gold or silver
to GLD or SLV on behalf of clients, actual bullion could be delivered
to the vaults of the Custodian or subcustodian without any record of
the ETF showing that the precious metal is owned by a third party. In
that case, it is difficult to know what the legal ramifications would
be if the Authorized Participant were to become insolvent or otherwise
become obligated to return the metal to the central bank from which it
was borrowed due to an inadequacy of collateral securing the lease.
Could leased bars contributed to an ETF be traced to the ETF by the
central bank and become the subject of a claim? We do not know, but we
have learned from the 2008 financial crisis that hopelessly complex
financial arrangements and claims pose substantial legal issues and
problems in the event of market panic, greatly affecting market prices
of securities these institutions issue, guarantee, promote or otherwise
hold as continuing obligations. If precious metals ETFs hold
not-insignificant amounts of leased gold or silver, the collapse of an
Authorized Participant that has contributed such gold or silver might
pose a significant risk to shareholders of the ETF.
C. Possible Over-reporting of Gold and Silver Holdings relative to Actual Precious Metals in Existence
experts in the gold and silver markets believe that the reported
inventories of gold worldwide exceed the actual amount of the metals in
existence. Thus, precious metals dealer Franklin Sanders of The
Moneychanger (Vol. 27, No.7, April, 2009 at page 15) [available by subscription]
suggests that if there is bullion missing and the ETFs account for a
significant percentage of existing precious metals holdings, there may
be some risk of hanky panky at the ETFs:
on supply. I haven't spent hundreds of hours digging these out, but
they're roughly accurate. Dave Morgan of The Silver Investor keeps up
with these things, and he graciously supplied these figures. [SLV]
claims 270,000,000 oz; Zurich Cantonal Bank 44,000,000, and ETF
Securities Holding 17,000,000 oz. That totals 321 million ounces (Moz).
Add to that Central Fund of Canada's (CEF) 60,000,000 (which most
likely really is in their vaults), and you come to 381 M oz. Oddly
enough, CPM Group, which publishes a yearly silver supply/demand
analysis, estimates total available silver stocks at 400 Moz. So we are
asked to believe that the ETFs among themselves, plus CEF, hold 95.25%
of all the available silver stocks in the world.
really do own all the silver they claim, then they have already soaked
up most of the world's readily available silver supply, not to mention
the one billion plus ounces that disappeared during the decade of
silver production shortfalls in the 1990s and 2000s. Pretty soon, all
those folks who use silver for industrial production are going to have
a problem, too."
On gold, Franklin is similarly suspicious:
curious, too. As of 14 April 2009 TheBullionDesk.com shows the holdings
of all gold ETFs at 41,977,900 ounces. That's 1,305.65 metric tonnes.
Remembering that all the central banks in the world together claim to
hold about 25,000 tonnes, the ETFs since 2004 have stacked up 5.2% [of
the gold that] all the world's central banks spent 100 years
As described in our Footnote (1), Nick Laird of ShareLynx Gold
in Australia estimates the total transparent world holdings (COMEX,
TOCOM, ETFs, digital gold and reported funds, but not including central
banks) of [LBMA-compliant] gold at 71.375MM ounces ($81.331B dollar
value). He estimates the total transparent world holdings of silver to
be 604MM ounces ($10.805B dollar value). As of April 2010, he reports
gold and silver holdings for GLD and SLV at 36.7MM ounces and 286.6MM
The total reported world supply of gold as reported in the GLD
prospectus was 3.522 tonnes (approximately 113.2MM ounces) and the
total reported world supply of silver as reported in the SLV prospectus
(see link below) was 888.4MM ounces at the end of 2008. This means that
GLD with 36.7MM ounces held approximately 32% of the world gold supply
and SLV with 286.6MM ounces held approximately 32% of the world silver
holdings according to the ETFs' reported data. By Nick Laird's count,
GLD held approximately 51% of the transparent worldwide gold holdings
and SLV held approximately 47% of the
transparent worldwide [LBMA-compliant] silver holdings.
Needless to say, estimates of total worldwide supply are the subject
of debate among precious metals market participants. In any case, GLD
and SLV record ownership of a big percentage of the available gold and
silver worldwide.
D. Trading Characteristics and Recent Withdrawals of Silver by Authorized "Participants" of SLV
The trading price ranges of the ETFs have increasingly reflected
market concerns. While SLV and GLD trade at a discount to the price of
silver and gold, by comparison, Central Fund of Canada (CEF) and
Central Gold Trust (GTU) trade at a meaningful premium to net asset
value. For example, on December 4. 2009, CEF and GTU traded at premiums
of 7- 8%, while SLV and GLD traded at discounts of between 1% and 2%.
On February 8th, CEF and GTU traded at premiums of 4-8%, while SLV and
GLD traded at discounts of 1-2%. According to the iShares website, SLV
traded at a 3%+ discount to net asset value on April 16, 2010.
We think the discount for SLV and GLD are insufficient, given the
risks. The market appears to agree about the importance of some of the
disclosed and undisclosed risks we have described herein. Given all of
the complexities of GLD and SLV relative to the roles of their key
parties in the commodities markets and the funds, their exemptions from
disclosure rules and other requirements applicable to registered mutual
funds, the "basket" redemption features, the cross-indemnifications,
the absence of written subcustodian agreements, the greater
uncertainties as to title to and quality and safety of their precious
metals and the lack of privity of contract with investors, it is
surprising that a number of investment counselors quoted widely in the
media suggest that investors consider GLD and SLV as simple and
convenient ways to participate in the gold and silver bullion markets
while avoiding the hassle of taking delivery storing of precious
metals. We have never heard mention in these recommendations of the
different risk profiles.
What troubles us is that these ETFs' assets account for a
substantial portion in the silver and gold commodities markets and that
they hold significant investor retirement assets in the form of
securities that are so complex in terms of risk that only intrepid and
market-savvy investors can appreciate the potential risks involved,
even when some of the risks are presented (albeit somewhat obtusely) in
public disclosure documents. Having witnessed the effect of largely
unregulated, "too big to fail" banks' and insurance companies'
participation in enormous, complex and overvalued mortgage-related
investment products that few were able to understand, and how that
adversely affected the day-to-day lives of so many, we fear this much
power in the hands of so few with so little transparency.
Ed Steer's Gold & Silver Daily notes that from February 26 through
April 15, 5% of the SLV silver, which was equal to ten days' worth of
silver production, was withdrawn in redemptions of "baskets." On April
14, 15 and 16 alone, 3.4MM ounces, 2.15MM ounces and 1.47MM ounces were
redeemed. We suspect that "something is up" when enormous redemptions
of SLV "baskets" take place with no apparent explanation or
justification, and no SEC filings to explain what some might consider
to be material events, at least in terms of sheer size.
As the prices of commodities rise, securities vehicles that channel
capital for investment in tangible assets through the commodities
markets will reflect an increasing portion of U.S. retirement savings
and global capital.
We want to reiterate what we said in the introduction to this
article. Investors deserve a clear picture of what they are buying so
they can make informed decisions about whether they want to buy and at
what price. We believe the disclosures regarding GLD and SLV are
inadequate. Given the conflicts of interest of the Custodian banks and
the general state of standards and ethics within the bullion banking
community, we believe the market discounts of GLD and SLV to silver and
gold melt value are more than warranted. At best, GLD and SLV are
simply a bank deposit priced in spot prices without the benefit of
government deposit insurance. At worst, GLD and SLV are vehicles by
which investors provide the banking community with the resources to
control and manipulate the precious metals market without adequate
As we outlined above in the section on exchange traded funds, many
of the ETF risks are disclosed in their prospectuses and in the Trust
documents filed with the SEC that are available to investors if they
look hard enough on the SEC's EDGAR site. However, we think the
complexity of the structure of these funds and the extent of their
departure from the usual and expected duties to shareholders make much
of the disclosure too complex for the average investor to understand at
best and misleading even to experts at worst. We remind readers that
market investors thought they understood mortgage-backed securities
like CDOs before the financial and housing crises of 2007 and 2008.
Since that time, we are assured that few understood what they were
getting into.
The CFTC is currently considering new regulations, including some that
would limit the positions of the large banks in the gold and silver
futures markets. We hope the CFTC will consider the issues related to
the use of exchange traded funds for channeling capital to the
commodities markets, including the lack of proper disclosure, the
complexity of the vehicles being created and whether affiliates of
market makers should be permitted to serve as custodians.
Furthermore, the immediate questions regarding material omissions
in the disclosure of GLD and SLV merit a review by the SEC with a view
to both actions to protect GLD and SLV investors and coordination
between the SEC and CFTC to ensure that investors can be confident in
disclosure standards as they relate to securities vehicles that channel
capital to the commodities markets. It is to be hoped that the SEC will
look long and hard at future no-action letter requests and regulatory
exemptions involving limitations on disclosure obligations of grantor
trusts that supposedly have little or no management structure and no
Finally, we would hope that these issues would inform the CFTC and
SEC regarding the importance of aligning regulation between commodities
and securities markets before the large banks shift billions, if not
trillions, of dollars of retirement savings and personal wealth through
the regulatory cracks.
We would like to thank Ed Steer, Chris Powell and Paul Ferguson for
their assistance in this article. Any errors, however, are solely our
Catherine Austin Fitts is the president of Solari, Inc. (http://solari.com) and Solari Silver & Gold (http://solarisilverandgold.com) and the managing member of Solari Investment Advisory Services, LLC (http://solariadvisors.com).
Carolyn Betts is an attorney in private practice in Ohio who serves as
general counsel to Solari, Inc. and Solari Investment Advisory
Services. LLC.
1Nick Laird of ShareLynx Gold
in Australia estimates the total transparent world holdings (COMEX,
TOCOM, ETFs, digital gold and reported funds, but not including central
banks) of [LBMA-compliant] gold at 71.375MM ounces ($81.331B dollar
value). He estimates the total transparent world holdings of silver to
be 604MM ounces ($10.805B dollar value). As of April 2010, he reports
GLD and SLV record ownership of gold and silver at 36.7MM ounces and
286.6MM ounces. The total reported world supply of gold as reported in
the GLD prospectus was 3.522 tonnes (approximately 113.2MM ounces) and
the total reported world supply of silver as reported in the SLV
prospectus (see link below) was 888.4MM ounces at the end of 2008. This
means that GLD with 36.7MM ounces records ownership of approximately
32% of the world gold supply and SLV with 286.6MM ounces records
ownership of approximately 32% of the world silver holdings according
to the ETFs' reported data. By Nick Laird's count, GLD records
ownership of approximately 51% of the transparent worldwide gold
holdings and SLV records ownership of approximately 47% of the
transparent worldwide silver holdings. Needless to say, estimates of
total worldwide supply are the subject of debate among precious metals
market participants. In any case, GLD and SLV record ownership of a big
percentage of the available gold and silver worldwide.
2 See, Bill Murphy testimony before the CFTC on March 25, 2010, (1 and 2) alleging JPMorgan Chase and HSBC involvement in market manipulation.
3I.e., broker-dealers that contribute silver to the major silver ETF. See "GLD and SLV" below for a description of how this works.
4 Putting the size of these funds
into perspective, according to reports issued by Nick Laird of
ShareLynx, the largest gold ETF, SPDR Gold Shares, held more than three
times the gold stored by the COMEX on April 10, and the largest silver
ETF, iShares Silver Trust, held more than twice the silver stored by
the COMEX on April 10.
5 In the words of GLD's attorneys in its SEC no-action letter request:
issued by the Trust ("Beneficial Owners") have limited rights as
compared to holders of traditional equity securities. For example,
Beneficial owners do not have statutory rights normally associated with
the ownership of shares of a corporation, such as the right to bring
"oppression" or "derivative" actions. Beneficial Owners have no direct
voting rights, except in limited circumstances. Beneficial Owners may
remove the Trustee upon the vote of at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding
Shares. In addition, the Trustee may terminate the Trust upon the
agreement of Beneficial Owners owning at least 66-2/3% of the
outstanding Shares, and certain amendments to the Indenture will
require 51% or unanimous consent of the Beneficial Owners."
6 According to disclosure required of HSBC, the following are the New York Stock Exchange requirements for U.S. listed companies:
- U.S. companies listed on the NYSE are required to adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines.
- Companies
are required to have a nominating/corporate governance committee,
composed entirely of independent directors. In addition to identifying
individuals qualified to become Board members, this committee must
develop and recommend to the Board a set of corporate governance
- Non-management directors must meet on a regular
basis without management present and independent directors must meet
separately at least once per year.
- U.S. companies are
required to adopt a code of business conduct and ethics for directors,
officers and employees, and promptly disclose any waivers of the code
for directors or executive officers.
- Independent directors must comprise a majority of the Board of directors.
A chief executive officer of a U.S. company listed on the NYSE must
annually certify that he or she is not aware of any violation by the
company of NYSE corporate governance standards.
Listing standards for ETFs listed on the NYSE Arca apparently are
relaxed versions of corporate listing standards. We were able to find
no disclosure of these relaxed standards on the NYSE website or
otherwise and emails to NYSE representatives requesting this
information went unanswered.
7 In GLD's defense, the GLD trust
indenture does require that gold deposits by Authorized Representatives
satisfy London Good Delivery standards of the London Bullion Market
Association ("LBMA"), which is industry standard. Gold bugs may
disagree as to the significance of this disclosure. Perhaps their
nervousness is exacerbated by the fact that, unlike Central Fund of Canada, e.g., GLD does not carry insurance on the gold held on its behalf.
8 See External Audits
for the audit and security procedures of GoldMoney, which are
considerably more extensive than is the case for GLD and SLV. Lest such
procedures seem burdensome or expensive, the reader is encourage to
revisit the the De Angelis salad oil scandal of the 1960s, in which
American Express lent millions of dollars against the security of huge
amounts of soybean oil that did not exist, having apparently conducted
inadequate audits of its security.
9 The SLV prospectus, page 29, provides:
locations in England or with the consent of the trustee and the
sponsor, in other places. The custodian may, at its own expense and
risk, use subcustodians to discharge its obligations to the trust under
the custodian agreement. The custodian has agreed that it will only
retain subcustodians if they agree to grant to the trustee and the
independent registered public accounting firm of the trust access to
records and inspection rights similar to those granted by JPMorgan
Chase Bank N.A., London branch, in its agreement with the trustee. The
custodian will remain responsible to the trustee for any silver held by
any subcustodian appointed by the custodian to the same extent as if
such silver were held by the custodian itself."
limited inspections of the silver delivered by an Authorized
Participant and exercising a level of care similar to that used for its
own account. However, the custodian is not responsible for conducting
any chemical or other tests designed to verify that such silver meets
the purity requirements referred to in the Trust Agreement."
10 Note that the SLV Custodian
Agreement requires the Custodian to maintain insurance covering its
obligations under the Custodian Agreement, including "loss of silver."
No insurance amount is specified, and the Custodian may cancel the
policy or reduce the coverage upon 30 days' notice to the Trustee. The
Trustee is not obligated to maintain insurance on behalf of the SLV
Trust and cannot claim under the Custodian's policy. Similarly, the GLD
Allocated Bullion Account Agreement requires the Custodian (HSBC) to
generally maintain insurance on its business, including its "bullion
and custody business," on terms it considers appropriate, but there is
no required insurance in favor of the Trustee and the GLD shareholders.
By contrast, both Central Fund of Canada and GoldMoney, alternative investment vehicles to hold precious metals, maintain insurance on their precious metals assets.
11 Note that while losses due to
broker-dealer insolvency or malfeasance with respect to client
securities are covered by SIPC (the Securities Investor Protection
Corporation), SIPC insurance does not cover losses on precious metals.
According to the FINRA website:
notes, stocks, bonds, mutual fund and other investment company shares,
and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as
unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships,
fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or
other commodity futures contracts or commodity options."
12 What would happen if the gold
market or the market for GLD shares were to collapse in mid-day when
more than 10% of shares might be in unallocated form? We don't know. It
may be that end-of-day balances are used in cases of insolvency or
other disputes over title to the custodial assets. In any case, 10% is
still a big percentage of assets to be subject to title questions. Note
that the end of the Custodian's business day is five hours earlier than
the end of the business day in New York.
13 Page 8 (Section 7.2) of the GLD Allocated Bullion Account Agreement says:
the safekeeping of the Bullion on the terms and conditions of this
Agreement. We will segregate Bullion in your Allocated Account from any
Precious Metal which we own or hold for others by making entries in our
books and records to identify such Bullion as being held for your
Allocated Account, and we will require Sub-Custodians to segregate
Bullion held by them for us from any Precious Metal which they own or
hold for others by making entries in their books and records to
identify such Bullion as being held for us. It is understood that our
undertaking to require Sub-Custodians to segregate Bullion from
Precious Metal they own or hold for others reflects the current custody
practice in the London market, and that accordingly we will be deemed
to have communicated that requirement prior to the execution of this
Agreement by our participation in that market. Entries on our books and
records to identify Bullion will refer to each bar by refiner, assay,
serial number and gross and fine weight. Under current LBMA market
practices, the weight lists provided to us by our Sub-Custodians are
expected to identify Bullion held for us by serial number and may
include additional identifying information."
14 The effects of these
limitations is tempered somewhat by the broader provision (Section
5.12) that provides "[t]he Trustee may, in its discretion, undertake
any action that it considers necessary or desirable to protect the
Trust or the interests of the Registered Owners."
16 The subcustodians for GLD are
appointed to hold gold only until it can be transported to the
Custodian in a commercially reasonable manner. There appears to be no
such temporary holding limit in the case of SLV.
17 Page 29 of the prospectus provides that:
additional custodian to be at least as protective of the interests of
the trust as the current agreement is, the actual terms and conditions
of such agreement will only be negotiated at the time such additional
custodian becomes necessary. The identity of such additional custodian,
as well as market conditions prevailing at the time, may, among other
factors, result in the need to hire an additional custodian under terms
and conditions significantly different from those in the agreement with
JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., London branch. For example . . . the scope of
the additional custodian¹s liability (including with respect to silver
held by subcustodians) and the additional custodian¹s standard of care
may not be exactly the same as in the agreement with JPMorgan Chase
Bank N.A., London branch."
18 The November 25, 2009 Annual
Report on Form 10K for GLD makes the following disclosure about the
settlement of a lawsuit between the Sponsor (and its parent) and Bank
of New York (now Bank of New York Mellon), the Trustee:
between the World Gold Council, or WGC, a not-for- profit association
registered under Swiss law, WGTS and the Bank of New York, or BNY,
concerning the ownership of certain intellectual property related to
the Trust and BNY's contractual entitlement to act as the trustee of
the Trust, BNY, now known as BNYM, agreed to serve as the Trustee. In
addition, while the WGC and WGTS do not agree that BNY owns any of the
intellectual property involved with the Trust, the WGC and WGTS entered
into a license agreement with BNY under which BNY granted to the WGC
and WGTS a perpetual, world-wide, non-exclusive, non-transferable
license under BNY's patents and patent applications that cover
securitized gold products solely for the purpose of establishing,
operating and marketing any securitized gold financial product that is
sold, sponsored or issued by the WGC or WGTS. Also under the license
agreement, the WGC and WGTS granted to BNY a perpetual, world-wide,
non-exclusive, non-transferable license under their patents, patent
applications and other intellectual property rights solely for the
purpose of establishing, operating and marketing financial products
involving the securitization of any commodity, including gold."
19 The November 25, 2009 Annual
Report on Form 10K for GLD makes the following disclosure about the
settlement of a lawsuit between the Sponsor (and its parent) and Bank
of New York (now Bank of New York Mellon), the Trustee:
between the World Gold Council, or WGC, a not-for- profit association
registered under Swiss law, WGTS and the Bank of New York, or BNY,
concerning the ownership of certain intellectual property related to
the Trust and BNY's contractual entitlement to act as the trustee of
the Trust, BNY, now known as BNYM, agreed to serve as the Trustee. In
addition, while the WGC and WGTS do not agree that BNY owns any of the
intellectual property involved with the Trust, the WGC and WGTS entered
into a license agreement with BNY under which BNY granted to the WGC
and WGTS a perpetual, world-wide, non-exclusive, non-transferable
license under BNY's patents and patent applications that cover
securitized gold products solely for the purpose of establishing,
operating and marketing any securitized gold financial product that is
sold, sponsored or issued by the WGC or WGTS. Also under the license
agreement, the WGC and WGTS granted to BNY a perpetual, world-wide,
non-exclusive, non-transferable license under their patents, patent
applications and other intellectual property rights solely for the
purpose of establishing, operating and marketing financial products
involving the securitization of any commodity, including gold.
20 E.g., on April [16], 2010, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs
in connection with the issuance of mortgage-related securities in an
alleged conflict-of-interest situation, in part under Rule 10b-5.
Related stories indicate state attorneys general may follow suit under
state securities fraud laws.
21 See a discussion of this
topic (i.e., hedging versus speculating and alleged market
manipulation) in CFTC hearings held on March 25, 2010.
22 See, "Silver Leasing or Silver Fleecing."
23 Some have maintained that
whether a short position can be covered is irrelevant because the
position can always be covered by a cash equivalent. Other market
participants, including founders and management of the Gold Anti-Trust
Action Committee, believe that an investor who places an order for gold
or silver ought to be able to require delivery of bullion, not just a
cash equivalent.
24 Whether the trust indenture
permits contribution of leased metals depends upon whether the
Authorized Participants' representations as to the contributed gold or
silver necessarily would preclude the practice. The SLV trust indenture
provides that the Authorized Participants will represent that the
silver is free and clear of any lien, pledge, encumbrance, right,
charge or claim. We are not experts in this area, but we question
whether Authorized Participants might be willing to make such
representations with respect to leased gold and suggest that what the
Authorized Participants believe is permitted may be different from what
investors and other market participants assume is permitted in this
25 We read "leased" in this
passage to refer to the fact that the Trustee does not lease the
Trust's gold to third parties, not to a policy of not accepting leased
gold from Authorized Participants.


text:
Lewiston Town Board adopts 2014 budget with no tax hike
LEWISTON – With little fanfare and no discussion, the Lewiston Town Board, under the direction of Deputy Supervisor Gary Catlin, on Monday unanimously adopted a $17.4 million budget for 2014 that remains under the 2 percent cap and does not increase taxes, which will remain at $16.60 for each $1,000 of assessment.
The adopted budget closely mirrors a preliminary budget presented Nov. 7, which gives all town employees a 3 percent pay increase, with the exception of the supervisor and town councilmen.
Refuse rates will remain unchanged at $70 per household, but Finance Director Michael Johnson said the cost is increasing and will have to be addressed in 2014, prior to the 2015 budget.
Catlin, who has served as deputy for the past four years under Supervisor Steven L. Reiter, took the reins last week when Reiter stepped down early, asking for an unpaid leave of absence.
Monday the board voted unanimously to return the supervisor's town-owned truck to the Recreation Department.
Reiter, who had recently been under a cloud of controversy after an FBI investigation in June involving his use of town gasoline, lost his bid to remain next year as town supervisor when he was defeated in the September primary election by Ernest C. Palmer. Earlier this month, Palmer was defeated by a relative political newcomer, Dennis J. Brochey, who has been a Lewiston village trustee for the past year.
Reiter also faced medical issues after he received a quadruple heart bypass July 5.
He told The Buffalo News that neither the medical nor political issues were why he was leaving, but rather, "It was just a good time to get out."
He said of the 2014 budget as he prepared to leave office last week, "There wasn't a lot left for me to do. We have a good budget. We didn't raise taxes. We took advantage of every opportunity to stay under the 2 percent cap. I hope they can continue the process we put in place and not raise taxes, but it is going to be tougher and tougher each year with employee benefits going up faster than our revenues."
email: firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"If you enjoy Asian food then Ketjap Manis is a great sauce to have in your fridge. It's dark and sweet and really adds to Satay or Sunflower Butter Sauces. I don't like using sugar so I came up with this sauce using Agave Syrup in its place. I have tried the commercial Ketjap and it's thicker then mine."
Chef Joey's Ketjap Manis
1 recipe photo
READY IN:20mins
Ingredients Nutrition
- 2⁄3 cup dark agave syrup
- 3⁄4 cup filtered water
- 2⁄3 cup tamari soy sauce
- 5 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Combine the agave and water in a small sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Using a candy thermometer bring the mixture up to 200'F.
- Once it reaches that temperature reduce the heat to low.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Store in the fridge for 2-3 months in a jar with a lid.
- Bon Appetit!
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text:
by Ralph Garcia, Houston
It was that time before the computer age when I would encounter Trinidad Sanchez, or as I came to call him, Brother Trini. Given his association with the Catholic Church and as a fellow Jesuit, our meeting was more of a divine inevitability--I as the assistant to the pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church; he, advocating on behalf of the less fortunate.
There was a plan in motion to create a Chicano cultural facility, the end product the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Enter Trini. Sanchez joined our board of directors and served as its chair. There were countless planning sessions and debates conducted in San Antonio's bars and cantinas, chief amongst them the Esquire and Tacoland.
One thing Trini taught me was never to admit being wrong in these negotiations. "Say: I regret this happened or that was done. But never apologize." In the midst of all this, one day Trini up and left, to Chicago I believe.
Three decades later, out of curiosity and with the knowledge I obtained on the use of computers, I googled myself. Amongst the listing appears Trini's web site. I am hesitant to contact him after so many years. A few weeks pass, and I finally E-mail him; he quickly responds about how long it has been. I often joked with him about how much poetry San Antonio had, telling him about the poetry groups organized around every subculture that existed. We spoke about him coming to Houston and the possibility of teaching at the local college, a real job.
Somewhere here my oldest sister Marie passes away from cancer. I write a piece dedicated to her. It's about our younger days when we danced as a ballet folklorico team. I send a copy to Trini. He writes back about how it reminds him of going to the school sock hops, describing the polarity of boys on one side of the gym and girls on the other. He continues with the point of how the girls have the power to crush a young man's heart, by simply saying no to a dance request.
Program monies are available and we ask if he will come to Houston to do a reading. We arrange a reception with local political dignitaries, including three city council members, two U.S. Congressmen, the county treasurer, and others. Scheduling an elite group like this becomes difficult in a town like Houston. The death of one elected official and other logistical problems delay the event. The elections pass and some of the hosts are no longer in office. We agree to bring Trini in anyway, as a presenter in the Latino Book Fair.
[Postcard of the proposed Sept. event, showing the sponsors]
The Book Fair itself is struggling to happen because Hurricane Katrina makes the convention center facility unavailable. Throughout this time Trini is hesitant about coming. Finally at the last minute he calls to let me know he's coming and driving alone.
Trini arrives, and I offer to house him for the nights he will be here. Cinco de Mayo festivities are in full swing. About 7:00 p.m. I tell him we are going to eat and get some culture. We drive to Houston's north side, one of the city's oldest and most stable Mexican communities. I take him to Moody Park, site of the historic Moody Park riots in the late 70's. We stop and view the original "Vaquero" statue of Luis Jimenez. Then we head to Doneriki's Mexican Food Restaurant further down Fulton Street. Here the owner always provides entertainment during Cinco de Mayo.
As tradition, the restaurant is full and a line of people wait to be seated. Each year the owner removes tables from the center of the restaurant and sets up a temporary stage. One of the managers spots us and immediately waves to the waiters to place a small table directly in front of the stage area. As we make out way to the table we are greeted by waiters and others in the audience who are looking and pointing, wondering who we are to deserve this attention. I want to describe it as something you see in the movies, but it's not. This is as real as life gets and something the movies try to replicate. We are so close to the stage, when the girls' skirts brush our faces when they swirl. After a plate of nachos and three rounds of beer we exit.
Outside, I introduce Trini to the manager and others. We offer our thanks and next go to Ray Ray's (swear: the place has two Rays in it) Ice House. Here again there is a crowd listening and dancing to Tejano music. The owner Ray is introduced to Trini, and we consume two or three more rounds.
It's getting late, ten or so, and on our way home we stop at the Harrisburg Country Club. It's more of your neighborhood dive, owned and operated by two Vietnamese brothers. On tonight's menu is a DJ with loud Tejano music. It is necessary to strategically seat yourself contingent on how much conversation you want to carry on. Again, I introduce Trini to the owners, and we have a couple more drinks.
Since Trini has to read the next day, we leave the Harrisburg, five minutes from my residence. At home I have no alcohol because I believe if one drinks alone that means you're an alcoholic. Trini gets out his backpack. We have this long discussion about recent passings of our friends and fellow artists, including Dr. Ricardo Sanchez, Jose Montalvo, and Rudy "Diamond" Garcia.
I tell him I had conversations with Montalvo, about death. I share with him some of the exchanges we had that I've never divulged to anyone else. I tell him I spent two days with Montalvo. He reminds me that when Montalvo rented off of Fredrickburg Road, how the doorbell to the apartment didn't work. Someone had penciled, "Neither does the tenant". Montalvo had his trademarks: that black hat, his "A mí que?" bumper sticker. I told him Montalvo after many years of being an artist had met a woman, bought a house and life was going fine. His illness came and she left and once again he was alone. Trini said in the end Montalvo was nothing but anger.
I ask Trini what was really going on in his life and he tells me. He then to read from his book of poems--me, the private audience. Again it's one of those things the movies can't replicate.
Next day Trini is off to the Book Fair and tells me he's gonna stay at the home of another poet, Later that day I went to the Book Fair and find Trini in the company of Victor Vega and Lorenzo Cano, two other seldom recognized do-gooders. I realize how we as a collective, off and on have helped to change the world.
[A doodle done while on the phone with Trini. He was always at poetry group meetings--Fathers without Children Poets, The Sleeping Giant, Enchilada Vendor Poets, the list seemed endless. San Antonio must be the Mecca for Latino poets.]
I am beginning to understand his poetry. It's about self and worth. I was just beginning to understand him. After this I hear no more from Trini. In a couple of days, I call and find him in San Antonio. He thanked me for everything. He also tells me how he saw so many people, writers he had not seen in a long time. He tells me, "Write, just write."
Our conversations continue mostly via e-mail. Trini seems to have gotten back to his beeline schedule, seldom home. He talks about pool parties at his residence, about his woman returning from Denver. We talk about another engagement in September.
Then comes the devastating news, the stroke, his death. I received many e-mails and articles. I was asked to write a piece in his memory, but I said no, because I say there are so many others that are much better at writing. Maybe someday Hollywood will replicate him in a movie. I remain doubtful.
Hermano Trini: descanse en paz.


text:
Anago release 7.20
David Povlitz is doing his part to boost the U.S. economy – and he challenges all franchise companies to do the same Anago Cleaning Systems' Chairman and Founder, David Povlitz announces an unprecedented price reduction of all new Master Franchise territories across the U.S. This bold move not only supports the growth of Anago's own franchise system, it also assists in rebuilding the U.S. economy by adding new businesses, increasing the number of self-employed Americans, and also creating new jobs.
Povlitz challenges all 500 franchised companies ranked annually by Entrepreneur Magazine to follow his lead. Entrepreneur issued the challenge to the franchise community via its website, in an article titled "Franchise Slashes Fees to Spur Jobs". The article states that the company "is lowering the cost of acquiring a Master Franchise by as much as 85% to $35,000" and quotes Povlitz who says "The hard reality is that it's going to be up to small businesses to create new jobs". To view the complete article on Entrepreneur's site, go to Entrepreneur.com/blog/219970.
Anago's Master Territories were historically priced from $150,000 to $250,000. Povlitz has drastically reduced the price of a brand new Master to just $35K, making the dream of business ownership an attainable reality for many more Americans. A 36-year veteran of the janitorial service business, Povlitz believes in giving back to the country that has given him the opportunity to be the successful business owner he is today. "There is no greater satisfaction in life than helping others" says Povlitz, "and during these trying times for all Americans, Anago wishes only to do its part to rebuild our great nation."
There are currently more than 60 available Anago Master Territories across the U.S. If each Master sold approximately 25 to 40 Janitorial or Unit Franchises annually, and each Unit hires an average of 3 to 5 employees, over the next 10 years, the potential exists for 120,000 new jobs to be created across the country! While 120,000 new jobs over 10 years may seem small in comparison to the entire U.S. economy, if the franchise community joined in Anago's commitment to assisting our fellow Americans achieve financial freedom and success, the prospect of 500 franchise companies each adding in excess of 10,000 new jobs annually, would definitely affect the economy in a very positive way!
The Anago Master Franchise Owner has the exclusive developmental rights to sell Janitorial or Unit Franchises in a defined territory. Simultaneously, the Master sells cleaning contracts, business-to-business, within the territory and contracts them to those who purchased the Unit Franchise. Povlitz founded the company in 1989 and began franchising in 1991. Today Anago has over 30 operational Master Territories across the country, and over 2,000 Unit Franchisees servicing clients in those 30+
territories. The commercial cleaning industry is projected at $100 billion annually, with expected double-digit growth. The business model is truly recession-resistant, with low overhead and fast ramp up.
Anago Cleaning Systems is headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida. Among the numerous awards the company has received recently, Anago has been named, for the second year in a row as the 5th Fastest Growing Franchise in the U.S., according to Entrepreneur Magazine.
For more information on Anago's extraordinary opportunity to purchase a Master Franchise, please visit us on the web at www.AnagoUSA.com or call our corporate offices directly at 800.213.5857.