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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (50226)	3/9/2000 3:36:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116753

No fraud or manipulation in the price of gold some say?: Tuesday March 7, 7:58 pm Eastern Time U.S. bankers charged with defrauding Argentina NEWARK, N.J., March 7 (Reuters) - The president of a U.S. bank and two former officials of a metals refining company were among 13 people indicted on charges of defrauding the Argentine government in an export scheme that artificially overvalued gold and other metals, officials said on Tuesday. John Bartholomew, 56, president of MTB Bank of New York, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Internal Revenue Service agents at his Weston, Conn., home for his alleged role in the scheme dubbed ``Goldgate' in Argentina, officials said. Bartholomew, six other U.S. citizens and six South Americans were named in a 51-count indictment unsealed by the U.S. attorney in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday. The indictment charges that between 1992 and 1996, the group cheated Argentina of tens of millions of dollars in export incentives by overvaluing gold and other metals exported to the United States. Bartholomew was accused of conspiracy, customs fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud and other charges carrying sentences of up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to one million dollars. Also charged were two other top MTB Bank executives as well as the former president, former vice president and a consultant to Handy & Harman Inc., a U.S.-based precious metals firm. Officials have not determined the total value of the exported metals involved but say the declared value was at least $130 million. ``Argentina was cheated of at least tens of millions of dollars and probably far in excess of that,' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Noel Hillman. Bartholomew was released on $200,000 bond. Arraignment for him and others in the case was set for March 17. biz.yahoo.com