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WASHINGTON, Nov. 6-- A former trader at a U.S. bank has pleaded guilty to fraud and spoofing for about seven years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday. John Edmonds, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud, commodities price manipulation, and spoofing, said the DOJ. According to the DOJ, Edmonds admitted that he conspired with other traders at a U.S. bank to manipulate the markets for multiple types of precious metals futures contracts from approximately 2009 to 2017. Although the DOJ document did not bring up the exact name of the bank, several U.S. media reported that Edmonds worked at the famous U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan from 2004 to 2017 according to his LinkedIn account. The DOJ said that Edmonds and his fellow traders "routinely placed orders for precious metals futures contracts" with the intent to cancel those orders before execution. Such practices, as known as "the Spoof Orders", were designed to distort the price of precious metals futures contracts in order to benefit the manipulator, said the DOJ. "For years, John Edmonds engaged in a sophisticated scheme to manipulate the market for precious metals futures contracts for his own gain by placing orders that were never intended to be executed," said Brian A. Benczkowski, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. | 
