GOLD SHAREHOLDERS, ADVOCATES ORGANIZE FOR ANTI-TRUST SUIT AGAINST PRICE FIXING

Contact: Bill Murphy, 214-522-3411 Email: LePatron@LeMetropoleCafe.com -

RYE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., Monday, Jan. 25, 1999 -- An international committee has been formed to prepare an antitrust lawsuit against Wall Street investment houses and Federal Reserve officials it accuses of conspiring to suppress the price of gold.

The committee, Gold Anti-Trust Action (GATA), will solicit support from mining companies, their shareholders, political figures, and people with a philosophical interest in sustaining gold's traditional monetary function, according to the committee's chairman, Bill Murphy.

Murphy, a financial markets commentator who edits an Internet web site of financial commentary, www.LeMetropoleCafe.com, said the committee has obtained substantial evidence of the collusion of Wall Street investment houses with each other and with Federal Reserve officials to control gold's price and supply.

He cited specifically the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's orchestrating last year the bailout by Wall Street investment houses of Long-Term Capital Management of Greenwich, Conn., a hedge fund whose failed speculations in derivatives, some involving gold, were said to threaten to collapse stock and currency markets internationally.

Other Wall Street investment houses recently formed what they call the Counterparty Risk Management Group, which, Murphy said, is open collusion to control the price and supply of derivatives and their underlying securities and commodities, including gold.

Murphy also noted Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's unusual statement last July to a Senate committee that governments are prepared to lease gold to suppress its price.

Greenspan told the committee: "Nor can private counterparties restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over the counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise."

Murphy said: "These people are called 'the Masters of the Universe' but their collusion to drive the price of gold down and monopolize its supply is still against antitrust law and is devastating an honest industry and its stockholders. It is also distorting markets everywhere and eroding the vital restraint gold traditionally has imposed on currencies. GATA is mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. And we don't have to. The law is on our side."

Murphy said the committee organized at the prompting of an essay written for his Internet site by a Connecticut newspaper editor, Chris Powell, who had been involved in antitrust litigation in that state.

"GATA is spreading the word of the lawsuit plan throughout the gold community and is recruiting plaintiffs and potential donors to underwrite the costs of litigation," Murphy said. "We're not accepting contributions now, just taking names and addresses of gold people who would be interested in fighting back and who might like to make pledges in any amount and become plaintiffs. The early response is enormously encouraging."

Murphy said that nearly $10,000 in pledges from ordinary gold shareholders and potential plaintiffs were received by electronic mail in the 48 hours after the lawsuit idea was publicized, even before the committee had formally organized.

GATA's mailing address is 1079 Ocean Blvd., Rye, N.H. 03870 USA. Its electronic mail address is LePatron@LeMetropoleCafe.com. Its telephone number is 214-522-3411.

"The committee's vice chairman and treasurer is John D. Meyer of Great Barrington, Mass., a money manager. The committee's email discussion group moderator is Boudewijn Wegerif, project manager for the Monetary Studies Programme in Stockholm, Sweden."