|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Lawsuits Claim Coin Companies Bilked Customers Out of MillionsSOURCE Victims said gold coins they bought were overvalued. They were told that their gold and platinum coins would double or triple in value. But the customers found out the glitter and glow weren't even worth one-third of what they'd paid, according to two lawsuits filed this month and in April against rare coin companies in Austin and Beaumont. "They pitch coins to elderly people by saying, 'Remember the Depression? . . . The only thing worth any value at that time was gold coins, and we could be in a depression next week,' " said Jason Gibson, a Houston attorney representing the plaintiffs. Nearly 50 plaintiffs have lost almost $13 million to 16 companies in Beaumont such as First Capital Reserve, First National Reserve and Universal Coin and Bullion, according to the lawsuits. Many of the companies are connected to each other, Gibson said. Six people have lost $420,000 to the United States Rare Coin and Bullion Reserve, also known as the U.S. Money Reserve Inc. in Austin, said the lawsuits, which were filed in Jefferson County. Several of the victims were from the Austin area. Dean Leipsner, executive director of the United States Rare Coin and Bullion Reserve in Austin, said the lawsuit was "ridiculous and frivolous." "We offer every one of our clients a full refund on the coins that they bought," Leipsner said. The company doesn't make cold calls and sells government- issued gold coins, he said. "Mr. Gibson just must be looking for attorney's fees," Leipsner said. A lawyer for First American Coin, First Capital Reserve and Universal Coin and Bullion said he would provide information last week about the companies' response to the lawsuit but never did. A press release from Universal Coin and Bullion said the company does not target elderly people and has successfully resolved the "few" complaints it has received over the past 17 years. Gibson said the rare coin companies cited in his lawsuits offered to buy back the coins from customers at a discount, or didn't return phone calls or respond to written complaints from consumers looking to sell back the coins, he said. Coins purchased by the plaintiffs were specially issued gold and platinum coins from the U.S. Mint that the coin companies bought from the U.S. government, Gibson said. In many cases, the companies sold coins to customers at 100 percent to 300 percent above their value, he said. A public information officer from the U.S. Treasury said he couldn't comment on pending litigation. Joe Tice of Pennsylvania said the Austin company hasn't returned his dozens of phone calls. Tice, a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, said he found out after his father's death that his father had invested more than $100,000 in coins from the company. Harold Tice of Austin pulled the money out of his 401(k), his home equity and trust funds meant for his grandsons' college education to invest in the coins, his son said. After Harold Tice died this year at age 76, Joe Tice said, he had the coins appraised. "Coins that my father bought from the United States Rare Coin and Bullion Reserve for $50,000 were only worth $5,000," he said. Plaintiff Marlene Chouteau, 76, of Driftwood said a representative with Universal Coin and Bullion in Beaumont told her that the gold coins' value would increase 20 percent to 30 percent each year. Chouteau said she eventually invested more than $200,000 in the coins. She sold some of them back to the company for their full value of $27,000 but got the refund only after threatening legal action, Chouteau said. She later found out that the rest of the $175,000 she had invested in coins was worth only about 20 percent of what she paid, she said. The company kept telling her not to sell back the coins because they were going up in value, she said. "I told the supervisor, 'I'm 75 years old, and that's all the money I have, and I can't afford to lose it,' " she said. |