DiCello Levitt Secures $20M Global Settlement in Precious Metals Price-Fixing Class Action

In January 2025, DiCello Levitt and Co-Lead Counsel obtained final approval of a $20 million settlement to resolve a nearly decade-long antitrust lawsuit against four major domestic and foreign precious metals trading institutions for their alleged manipulation of the futures markets for platinum and palladium.

We secured the settlement after successfully arguing in June 2020 before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In February 2023, the federal appellate court reinstated the case and vacated the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims that the defendants had violated the Commodities Exchange Act, ruling that the plaintiffs had alleged sufficient domestic activity to survive the foreign defendants’ motion to dismiss on those claims. The appeals court also reversed the district court’s ruling that the plaintiffs lacked antitrust standing in the futures and options market and affirmed the district court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over the foreign defendants.

The case stems from several class actions first filed in 2014 on behalf of a class of traders that accused Goldman Sachs, HSBC, BASF Metals, and ICBC Standard Bank of manipulating the prices for physical and exchange-traded platinum and palladium on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Until 2014, these defendants ran and controlled the London Platinum and Palladium Fixings, which set and fixed the benchmark price for platinum and palladium, twice daily. According to the complaint, the defendants’ collusive and anticompetitive tactics artificially depressed the prices for platinum and palladium, causing the plaintiffs and other class members to receive less money when they sold their futures contracts.

After more than ten years of hard-fought litigation, the eight-figure settlement is a significant victory for investors seeking redress for anticompetitive conduct affecting their platinum and palladium futures investments.

The case is In re Platinum and Palladium Antitrust Litigation. The DiCello Levitt team is led by Greg Asciolla and also includes Noah Cozad.