Federal Charges Filed in Price ‘Spoofing’ Inquiry on Wall St.<br />The Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined three European banks — Deutsche Bank, HSBC<br />and UBS Group — for improperly influencing the prices of precious metals futures contracts, which traders use to wager on anticipated price changes in these assets.<br />Federal authorities have filed civil and criminal charges against a group of Wall Street banks and individuals<br />that they say tried to manipulate markets in gold, silver and certain financial products, including by showing potential customers fake prices.<br />The actions, filed over the past several days, are part of a yearslong effort by financial regulators and the Department of Justice to stamp out behavior<br />that gives the biggest banks an advantage over smaller market players.<br />Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $30 million to settle its case; UBS is paying $15 million and HSBC $1.6 million.
