Rob Kirby:

"...That Bear Stearns and LTCM should be mentioned in the same breath should also come as no surprise for another reason; Bear Stearns was the only major player invited by the NY Fed / Treasury to participate in the “then bail-out of LTCM” who refused to participate. Not participating, or bearing a portion of the financial burden, in the suppression of the gold price effectively made Bear Stearns “an enemy of the State”.

So, it's an ironic twist of fate that while LTCM's demise was cloaked because they were secretively and nefariously “short gold”; Bear Stearns was brought to heel [assassinated, more likely] because they were “long” – at a minimum - roughly 12 billion dollars worth of gold derivatives [futures]."

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6724.html

Hat tip: Golden Jackass, http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/willie051310.html