GATA's freedom-of-information lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, an action seeking access to the Fed's records involving gold and particularly gold swaps, is nearing a critical point.

The Fed has asked the court for what's called summary judgment -- dismissal of the lawsuit on the grounds that no relevant evidence is in dispute and that even if all factual assertions by the plaintiff are true there is no remedy at law.

GATA maintains that many factual assertions are in dispute, that the Fed has not searched conscientiously for all documents covered by GATA's request for information, and that the Fed itself has provided a glaring proof of its failure to search conscientiously.

That glaring proof is the Fed's failure to identify to the court the gold swap arrangements with foreign banks that were acknowledged by Fed Governor Kevin M. Warsh in his September 17, 2009, letter to GATA's lawyer, William J. Olson of Vienna, Virginia, denying GATA's first appeal of the Fed's refusal to provide access to documents.

Warsh's admission that the Fed has gold swap arrangements with foreign banks and insists on keeping them secret can be found in the first paragraph of the third page of that letter, which is posted here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedResponse-09-17-2009.pdf

The Fed's motion for summary judgment can be found here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedMotionForSummaryJudgment-06-22-2010.pdf

GATA's reply in opposition to the Fed's motion can be found here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAReplyToFedSummaryJudgmentMotion-09-27-2010...

A declaration by Olson in support of GATA's reply can be found here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedLawsuit-OlsonDeclaration-09-27-2010.pdf

A declaration by your secretary/treasurer in support of GATA's reply is here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedLawsuit-PowellDeclaration-09-27-2010.pd...

A declaration by GATA board member Adrian Douglas, publisher of the Market Force Analysis letter, in support of GATA's reply is here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedLawsuit-DouglasDeclaration-09-27-2010.p...

And a declaration by GATA consultant James Turk, founder of GoldMoney and publisher of the Free Gold & Money Report, is here:

http://www.gata.org/files/GATAFedLawsuit-TurkDeclaration-09-27-2010.pdf

If the Fed's motion for summary judgment is denied, serious evidence gathering is likely to begin in court -- that is, serious scrutiny for the most powerful, imperious, and secretive agency of the U.S. government, the agency that surreptitiously manipulates most major markets around the world. That agency and those manipulations cannot bear scrutiny.

From GATA's filings you may see how vital our lawsuit is to the establishment of free markets and fair dealing among both individuals and nations and how much effort and expense we have put into it. The lawsuit already has extracted from the Fed that most damaging admission about its participation in gold swaps. If the lawsuit proceeds it will extract more damaging admissions.

But to continue our work we need financial assistance from precious metals investors, mining companies, and believers in free markets and limited, democratic government generally.

If, after reviewing the filings, you're inclined to support us, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16

The World Gold Council is reported to have an annual budget of $60 million but is forever silent in the face of central banking's long war against gold, free markets, limited government, and liberty. With even a few million dollars GATA might successfully prosecute its lawsuit against the Fed and bring a few more actions against the gold and silver price suppression schemes and other market manipulations at their most vulnerable points. The World Gold Council exists to make sure that there never is a world gold council. With your help we'll see that there is one.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

gata.org/node/9092

Sept. 28, 2010