November 1, 2011

Glenn Beck’s Favorite Gold Company Charged With Fraud

Glenn Beck shills for Goldline in 2010.Courtesy of Glenn Beck

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Goldline International, the California precious metals retailer promoted by Glenn Beck and other right-wing radio hosts, was formally charged with 19 criminal counts—including grand theft by false pretenses, false advertising, and conspiracy—on Tuesday by the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office. The criminal complaint also implicates Goldline CEO Mark Albarian, along with two other company executives and two salespeople.

The charges detailed in the complaint support what MoJo‘s Stephanie Mencimer first reported in 2010: Using aggressive telemarketing tactics, Goldline employees routinely pressured customers to purchase expensive coins with mark-ups so steep that it was very unlikely the consumer would ever make his money back. The company racked up a long list of complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, and at one point was sanctioned by the state of Missouri. But Beck and other endorsers (including liberal talker Ed Schultz) lent an air of legitimacy to the whole operation, sowing fears of a total economic collapse to help make the pitch for Swiss Francs. Beck’s pitch went a step further, arguing that in the event of a total financial meltdown, the government would confiscate gold bullion—meaning you should invest your money in coins instead. 

You can check out the full complaint here:

 

 

The charges today are the culmination of a yearlong investigation from the city attorney’s office. Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison or a $10,000 fine.

Update: Brian Ross gets the company’s response:

“The company will vigorously contest the allegations,” Brian Crumbaker, Goldline’s Executive Vice President, said in a statement emailed to ABC News early Wednesday. “We believe Goldline has industry best-practices in customer disclosures enabling the most informed decisions.”

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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