Just ‘Bullish’ on Silver, Nelson Hunt Says
Texas oil tycoon Nelson Bunker Hunt stuck to his story Thursday that he invested in silver because of unstable world political conditions--and not as part of a scheme to corner the market.
In his third day on the witness stand, Hunt came under the scrutiny of plaintiff’s attorney Mark Cymrot, but the one-time billionaire stubbornly held his ground.
Hunt and his two younger brothers are being sued for $150 million by a South American silver concern that claims they manipulated the world silver market between 1979 and 1980.
Minpeco SA, a mineral marketing company owned by the Peruvian government, claims the brothers--Nelson Bunker, 62, William Herbert, 59, and Lamar, 55--conspired unsuccessfully with several Middle East businessmen to corner the world silver market during those years.
2 Days of Questioning
In two days of questioning by his own lawyer, Paul Curran, Hunt claimed he did not plot purchases of silver bullion and silver futures with two other co-defendants, Mahmoud Fustok and Naji Nahas, during a party at Fustok’s home in France.
When Cymrot noted the coincidence that both Nahas and Fustok increased their purchases of silver future after meeting with Hunt, he replied: “I talked about silver with everybody.”
Hunt has insisted he was “very bullish” on silver as a hedge against inflation and claimed that in 1979 he couldn’t walk down a street in Paris without being questioned about the precious metal as an investment.
“I never knew anything about Fustok’s operation,” said Hunt at one point. At another he claimed: “I never knew what Nahas was doing.”
Fustok, a brother-in-law of the Saudi Arabian crown prince, was the only other defendant to attend the trial. Three others, two Arab sheiks and Nahas, a Lebanese businessman now living in Brazil, have no U.S. holdings and did not challenge Minpeco’s court papers.
Started at $9 an Ounce
The sheiks--Ali Bin Mussalem and Mohammed Al-Amoudi--co-owned International Metals Investment Co. with Nelson Bunker and William Herbert Hunt. The Bermuda-based company also is a defendant in the case.
Lawyers for Minpeco claim that the Hunts and their Middle Eastern co-defendants were responsible for the sharp rise in silver prices from about $9 an ounce to more than $50 an ounce between September, 1979, and January 1980.
Six financial institutions accused of participating in the alleged conspiracy have settled with Minpeco for a total of $64.6 million.
Minpeco claims the skyrocketing silver prices caused it to lose more than $100 million when the world silver market collapsed in March, 1980, with prices falling back to about $10 an ounce.
