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

To: Ken Benes who wrote (82419)	2/21/2002 7:08:00 PM
From: Square_Dealings	Respond to of 116815

Maybe another test down tomorrow but next week should be good for the upside. Actually the next 6 years should be good. I think I'll hold rather than worry about the next 3% "crash" in the gold price. Commercials should start rethinking their short positions as the stock market goes on the slippery slope down. M.

To: Ken Benes who wrote (82419)	2/21/2002 11:48:16 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116815

<<Just received a high mark alert from GATA, "Cartel Capitulation". As a contrary indicator, a further retracement of recent gains may be imminent, Gata alerts have not been favorable to the price of gold.>> Yeah, BUT, it was a good XAU move - with no PoG move - today.

To: Ken Benes who wrote (82419)	2/24/2002 3:07:52 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116815

Another report Monday February 11, 12:35 pm Eastern Time Allied Irish Confirms Trader Bonuses Allied Irish Confirms Trader at Center of Allfirst Fraud Scandal Was Paid Big Bonuses By SHAWN POGATCHNIK Associated Press Writer DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Allied Irish Banks PLC paid hefty performance bonuses to the trader accused of committing a $750 million fraud at the bank's U.S. subsidiary, an AIB official confirmed Monday. The bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said John Rusnak would have regularly received annual bonuses exceeding $100,000 on top of his $85,000 salary in reward for his past foreign-exchange trading success at Allfirst Bank of Baltimore, Md. The official said he didn't know whether Rusnak had received his bonus for 2001, when he is alleged to have produced dozens of fraudulent documents. Allied Irish Banks has accused Rusnak, 37, of covering up huge losses by fabricating purchases of options contracts, which would have provided the bank insurance for his money-losing trades, chiefly in Japanese yen. Rusnak's attorneys have insisted their client did not personally profit from the deception. The FBI has interviewed Rusnak but filed no charges against the Baltimore resident. Allied Irish also confirmed Monday it had frozen all 2001 bonuses to the executives at Allfirst. The U.S. bank's board of directors had approved the rewards at a meeting last month, but AIB headquarters in Dublin said no bonuses would be paid pending the outcome of an internal investigation. The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the prospect of bonuses, coupled with mounting losses from Rusnak's trades, could have been a motive for his alleged phony transactions. The latest details emerged as Eugene A. Ludwig, the veteran American banking official overseeing Allied Irish Banks' internal inquiry, began his first day at the helm. The bank said Sunday it wanted Ludwig, who is being assisted by about 15 senior AIB staff members from Dublin, to publish a report by March 9 into how the losses happened and what corrective action -- including firings -- should be taken. ``Management wants an independent, outside authority to direct the investigation and that's the right way to do it,'' Ludwig said Monday in a statement. ``They've asked me to establish exactly what happened so that it never happens again.'' Ludwig, 55, currently serves as managing partner of Promontory Financial Group in Washington, D.C. He was a banking attorney in Washington before former U.S. President Bill Clinton appointed him comptroller of the currency in 1993. In that role he directed the bank regulatory agency within the U.S. Treasury Department, where he oversaw 2,600 nationally chartered banks until stepping down in 1998. He had been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University at the same time as Clinton. Allied Irish chief cxecutive Michael Buckley on Sunday accused Rusnak of being at the center of ``a diligent and a devious fraud'' that probably involved collusion with at least one person outside the bank. Speaking to the Irish national broadcaster RTE, Buckley said Rusnak's lawyers ``have tried to give the impression that this was some sort of `learner driver' who went out of control. This was a sophisticated fraud.'' Buckley, who has faced criticism in Ireland for not paying sufficient attention to Allfirst operations, declined to comment on whether he or any other senior Allied Irish or Allfirst executives should expect to be fired. He said any personnel changes would happen after Ludwig published his report. He said the AIB board ``will act on his recommendations without restraint or interference.'' Allied Irish created Allfirst in 1999 after taking control of First Maryland Bancorp and merging it with a smaller financial institution, Dauphin Deposit Corp. Today, Allfirst runs about 250 branches in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington. Allied Irish, which is Ireland's largest company, will report its 2001 earnings on Feb. 20. Buckley says the bank expects to report a profit of more than $350 million, despite the Allfirst losses. biz.yahoo.com