JP Morgan precious metals traders charged

NEW YORK – Two current traders and one former trader in the New York offices of JPMorgan are charged with manipulating the precious metals futures market.

The Justice Department announced an indictment Monday against Gregg Smith of Scarsdale, New York; Michael Nowak of Montclair, New Jersey; and Christopher Jordan of Mountainside, New Jersey.

New York FBI official William F. Sweeney Jr. says the men are accused of an eight-year scheme to trade precious metals in a way that negatively affected “the natural balance of supply-and-demand.”

JPMorgan declined to comment. An attorney who represented Nowak in a related civil case didn’t immediately respond to an email message. The names of Smith’s and Jordan’s lawyers weren’t immediately available.

They were awaiting court appearances in New York and New Jersey. The federal indictment was issued in Illinois.