I hate to hear about the elderly being taken advantage of and ripped off. It is especially disturbing when the perpetrator is a member of the numismatic community. I have deleted the name of the accused (who has not been convicted). There are a couple of inaccuracies in the article that I have highlighted. Rare-coin broker . . . swindled $1M from elderly East Sider, prosecutors say
I agree, this is very disturbing. Unfortunately this is the world in which we live. It becomes increasingly difficult to have Trust of anyone these day's . We can take some pleasure in knowing the culprit was apprehended and will face the music in a court of law .
Thanks for passing on this story hobo, interesting how the story was phrased (20 dollar us currency discs?, gold coins are gilt not real gold?)
Yeah, it is not unusual at all for a reporter to know very little (or nothing at all) about the subject he is reporting on. In decades past journalists took pride in their work but those days are gone.
just goes to show that you need to watch and becareful with who you deal with. It is sad really. *sigh* collectible coins are at the mercy of the collectors intead of the actual gold price. while the gold price can affect the value mint, date, and the grade of the coin and the rarity have more of an impact.
This reporter likely spent several hours studying gold coins on the internet and at least learned that they are not 24k. That's gotta count for something. lol This story is precisely why I want to deal with my own collection and not leave it to any heirs who may not want to spend the time to learn the coins.
I found the story to have a happy ending at least, with the perpetrator behind bars and the gold recovered. Since gold is still going strong, they should have much trouble recovering their investment.
Thanks for sharing this one 3 1/2 year ! time don't fit the crime anymore! they should get life & 1 day in my opinion:devil:
That my friend, is severely understated. The likes of many that refer to themselves as " Journalist's " today would not be hired in Ben Franklins press room as a floor sweeper .
Every time I read a newspaper story about a topic I already know about, it contains at least one flagrant error.
The Wall Street Journal's write-up of the story is much better than the one in the OP. The crime committed here is not the fact that gold coin were sold as investment. Regardless of anyone's personal opinion on the matter, it is not illegal to sell gold coin for investment. Statements like, "she conned the 83-year-old victim into trading her fortune for collectible coins," make it appear as though the very act of investing is what the illegal activity revolved around, which is not the case. This is a case of theft, larceny, securities fraud, and a scheme to defraud...all of which revolve around the alleged burglary. If a dealer sells investment coin for the purpose of investment and their conduct is that of a true custodian of the investment, then the dealer has done nothing wrong. It does not matter if it is $1,000 or $1,000,000. Nor does it matter if the investor is twenty-three, fifty-three, or eighty-three years old. It is solely the intent to defraud and the resulting fraudulent activity that are illegal, not being an investment adviser. Many early 19th century collectible gold coin values have risen between 15-20% over the past three years. Though not stellar performance as an investment, it is still more than government guaranteed options. Does this investment suddenly become illegal activity because the investor was eighty at the time the investments were first being purchased? Of course not. The dealer's activities become illegal the moment the dealer's intent is to defraud the investor, and becomes prosecutable the moment the dealer allegedly acts on that intent. In this case, the alleged activity was blatant theft and larceny. Now, it's up to the prosecutor to prove his case.
My apologies for any misunderstandings. My intent was to report the theft of the coins by a "rare coin broker" as the crime, not the investment in the coins.
