Correctly read the 1970s inflation crisis when trust in currency was collapsing. Bought 35 million ounces of silver at $3/ounce in 1973, rallied wealthy friends and Middle East investors to the cause. By 1980, silver hit $50/ounce — up 700% in one year.
ComX and Chicago Board of Trade changed the rules mid-game, capping positions at 3 million ounces and freezing new contracts. The brothers were leveraged to the hilt — controlling $6.5 billion in silver with only $1 billion of their own money. When regulators killed the momentum, prices collapsed and margin calls came flooding in.
Personal bankruptcy in 1988. Once worth $5 billion each, reduced to a few million. Banned from commodity trading for life, fined $10 million each. Rode the subway to court. Lost 99% of inherited wealth.
