Ron Wilson, a long-time resident of Easley, South Carolina and local politician, was recently ordered by the state's Attorney General to cease and desist selling silver securities through his company Atlantic Bullion & Coin. Although Wilson stated to investors that his securities represented real silver he would buy with investor monies, the securities he was selling were allegedly fake and possibly used to foster a large Ponzi scheme which may have netted Wilson as much as $70 million.
Wilson was a county commissioner in Anderson County, so some people trusted him. He is past national commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans as well as a former member of the state school board - a real wing-nut. As commander of the confederate outfit, Wilson advocated secession from the Union and wanted the "Confederate Southern American" to be designated a minority. The Southern Poverty Law Center has him on their watch list.
One of Wilson's methods to get unwittting people to invest in his scheme played on people's distrust, even hatred, for President Obama and anyone associated with him or the Democrats.
Wilson often hinted to new prospects that Obama and the Democrats were on the verge of passing legislation aimed at seizing their IRAs and placing them in Treasury certificates. Wilson would then convince these unwitting (i.e., Obama hating morons) to turn their IRAs over to him in exchange for silver certificates.
I've heard right-wing radio hosts state the same seizure canard, and the idea is even featured on websites 'dedicated' to educating us about gold and silver scams, as this paragaraph refers (with a straight face) to the impending IRA seizures by the government:
Update, 01/17/10: The United States Congress has been discussing ways of assuming control of American citizens’ IRAs and retirement accounts and rolling them over into US Treasuries. This would be the end of your money, as US Treasuries are not only worth much less than gold, they are soon to be worthless when the dollar is officially devalued 3 to 1, which is set to happen either in 2010 or 2011, according to Bob Chapman of the International Forecaster.
These scams are as old as the hills, but it's the right-wing nature of it that is most interesting...it's a perfect manifestation of the wingers' general hateful outlook and their own greedy propensity to prey on the fears of their followers across all subject matter and settings in the typical, endless harangues by people like Limbaugh and Hannity.
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