H.L. Hunt's sons bought a third of the world's silver, lost more than $1 billion, and filed for bankruptcy after a Peruvian state company won in court

Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt were sons of the Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, who left a multibillion-dollar fortune and Placid Oil. In 1979 and 1980 the brothers and their partners bought about a third of the world's silver, 59 million ounces in less than a year. The price rose from $9 to more than $50 an ounce. By January 1980 their holdings were worth nearly $4.5 billion. In March 1980 the price collapsed, and they lost more than $1 billion. Minpeco S.A., the Peruvian government's mineral marketing company, sued them. In August 1988 a federal jury in New York found Nelson Bunker, William Herbert and their brother Lamar liable for fraud and commodities and antitrust violations. Nelson and William were also found liable for racketeering. The jury ordered more than $130 million in damages. In September 1988 the brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That year 580 of Bunker's horses sold at Keeneland for $46,911,800. In 1989 he paid a $10 million fine to the commodities regulator and accepted a ban from commodities trading. Much of his remaining fortune went to creditors and the tax authorities. He died in Dallas in October 2014, aged 88.