This is all you need to know: >As the case was pending in November 2018, a guilty plea in a criminal case related to spoofing trades by John Edmonds, a former precious metals trader at J.P. Morgan, drew the attention of Kovel. >In his plea in Connecticut federal court, Edmonds admitted that he, along with other “unnamed co-conspirators” at the bank, manipulated the prices of gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts from 2009 to 2015. >Edmonds said he learned how to make bogus trade orders from senior traders at the bank — and that he used the strategy hundreds of times with the knowledge and consent of supervisors. As part of his guilty plea, Edmonds agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in investigations. They all do it, and just try not to get caught.