The Hunt brothers in the late 79-80, made a huge play against silver, both physical and futures. As the price rose from $10 to $50, the COMEX changed the rules, limited futures buying and ordered a silver sell only decree. CFTC promptly backed the decree. Of course the price of silver fell off a cliff. The Hunts, who did nothing illegal, accused members of holding short positions on silver, which later was proven true. Their brokerage, Bache (now Prudential Bache) was part of an emergency bail out plan approved by Paul Volker (Fed chair at the time) as he "feared a financial disaster". COMEX, CFTC, Fed Chair, multi-billion $ bailout, Hunt brothers forced in bankruptcy... same shit, different decade.