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GATA Urges SEC, CFTC to Investigate Goldman Sachs' Trading Program MANCHESTER, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee has urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate the computer trading program of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that, according to a federal prosecutor, the bank acknowledges can be used to manipulate markets. In its letters to the SEC and CFTC, GATA wrote: "The assistant U.S. attorney's comment can be construed to suggest Goldman Sachs considers its own manipulation of markets to be fair, while such manipulation by others would be unfair..." GATA Urges SEC, CFTC to Investigate Goldman Sachs' Trading Program - Yahoo! Finance GATA is an educational and civil rights organization that seeks to restore free markets to the precious metals. The text of GATA's letters is appended. GOLD ANTI-TRUST ACTION COMMITTEE INC. 7 Villa Louisa Road, Manchester, Connecticut 06043-7541 July 7, 2009 Gary Gensler, Chairman U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission 3 Lafayette Centre 1155 21st St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20581 Mary L. Schapiro, Chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F St. N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549 Dear Chairman Gensler / Dear Chairman Schapiro: I'm enclosing a copy of a report distributed July 6 by Bloomberg News Service about the U.S. government's prosecution of a former employee of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. involving the purported theft of a Goldman Sachs computer trading program. The report quotes Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti as saying in U.S. District Court in New York City: "The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways." If the report quotes the assistant U.S. attorney correctly, and if he was characterizing Goldman Sachs' position correctly, then Goldman Sachs claims to have possession of a computer trading program that can manipulate markets. The assistant U.S. attorney's comment can be construed to suggest Goldman Sachs considers its own manipulation of markets to be fair, while such manipulation by others would be unfair. The court proceeding described in the Bloomberg News story would seem to impugn all markets in which Goldman Sachs trades. On behalf of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc., I ask your commission to investigate Goldman Sachs' trading program urgently and report its findings publicly. Thanks for your consideration. With good wishes. CHRIS POWELL Secretary/Treasurer