Anyone see this:
January 30, 2004 -- The Manhattan district attorney's office has issued a search warrant for the office of a senior New York Mercantile Exchange official, The Post has learned.
On Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office issued a search warrant for the office of Stuart Smith, senior vice president of operations at the New York Merc and a 20-year veteran of the exchange, sources said.
The reason for the search warrant is unclear, but Smith has been placed on paid administrative leave, sources said.
A spokeswoman for the DA's office declined comment. Smith could not be reached for comment.
New York Merc spokeswoman Nachamah Jacobovits confirmed that Smith was still an employee of the exchange but declined to comment further.
The exchange, which is commonly known as the NYMEX, trades futures and options contracts for crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, gold, silver, copper, aluminum and platinum, among other things.
The Exchange's divisions, the NYMEX and the COMEX, were formed by the merger of the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Commodity Exchange in 1994.
The exchange shelved a plan to go public in 2000 and became a for-profit business, and a seat currently sells for $1.5 million.
Smith may not be a target of the investigation but rather a witness in it, say people familiar with the situation.
Smith has been in charge of the floor since joining the exchange in 1984 and became vice president of floor operations in 1986.
Prior to joining NYMEX, he was an assistant vice president of trading analysis at the American Stock Exchange where he worked for 19 years.
nypost.com
Hmmmm? GATA must be going nuts over this. |
