Prosecutors won another victory in cracking down on market "fraud", with two former BofA Merrill Lynch traders convicted of fraud charges involving the manipulation of precious metal futures.

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Edward Bases and John Pacilio on Wednesday of buying and selling heavily in the market from 2008 to 2014, then quickly canceled the commission to direct the price of gold, silver or platinum in the direction they wanted. Although there is nothing wrong with canceling the commission, both men are accused of deliberately defrauding other traders.

"they are lying, cheating and taking advantage of others," prosecutor Scott Armstrong told jurors in his closing statement on Monday. "they think they are above the rules. They thought no one would figure out their tricks. "

The two-week trial is the latest prosecution of market "fraud" in the United States in recent years. James Vorley and Cedric Chanu, former Deutsche Bank precious metals traders, were sentenced to a year in prison in June after being convicted in Chicago last year.

Including JPMorgan Chase & Co、 Bank of America CorporationCompanies such as Deutsche Bank have paid more than $1 billion in fines to address market manipulation responsibilities related to fraud. Merrill Lynch paid a fine of $36.5 million in 2019 as part of a government investigation into precious metals fraud.

"We are obviously disappointed with the outcome of the trial," Bases's lawyer, Alfred Pavlis, said in a statement. "We still believe that Bases is innocent and that his trading was allowed under the rules at the time, not fraud."

"John Pacilio doesn't deserve this result, and we will continue to fight until we get a different result," his lawyer, David McGill, said in an email.