He was only subjected to civil charges of conspiring to manipulate the silver market. In 1989 in a settlement with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Nelson Bunker Hunt was fined US$10 million and banned from trading in the commodity markets as a result of civil charges of conspiring to manipulate the silver market stemming from his attempt to corner the market in silver. This fine was in addition to a multi-million dollar settlement to pay back taxes, fines and interest to the Internal Revenue Service for the same period.

Hunt filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code in September 1988, largely due to lawsuits incurred as a result of his silver speculation.

Almost everyone, including arch conservatives, favor anti monopoly laws on the theory that monopolistic practices distort and destroy free markets.

Wait...I have an answer that is absolutely 10000% rock solid..... they weren't prosecuted....

From what I know, all the did was use their money to buy up all the silver they could. That's investing which is capitalism. It's not like they were trying to manipulate the market buy selling it all and then buy them back at a lower price. What law did they break? Was there a limit on the amount of silver an investor could legally purchase? Is here a limit today?