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.
Wilson was ordered in 1996 to cease selling his 'securities', signed a consent decree, but resumed his activities when he thought no one was looking. Upon finding out about the suspect activity, the state Attorney General arranged for a criminal investigation that included the Secret Service and local agencies.
His business was raided in mid-March in an operation conducted by the Secret Service.
Wilson's basic tactic was to begin with a few customers buying real silver bullion to cover the later scheme of only issuing securities supposedly documenting actual bullion he said was stored at the Delaware Depository (from the Anderson Independent Mail):
Monday’s complaint says Wilson told investigators less than two months ago that he had between $16.9 million and $20 million in silver bars in a Delaware depository, a depository that prosecutors say had no record of Wilson or his company’s silver. Wilson’s company, Atlantic Bullion & Coin, dealt with $71 million from 2009 to 2012, according to the complaint, which does not say how much of that money is being questioned.
Investors bought his claim that it was easier to issue statements of deposit and percentage of growth rather than shipping the bullion to the customer because the freight cost was prohibitive -- and to a man and woman, they fell for it. In fact, no customer ever complained or suspected Ron Wilson:
Most securities cases begin with customer complaints but Wilson’s case came after the attorney noticed a problem, Plowden said. The Monday complaint from the state office cites specific unnamed customers and has detailed financial information about their silver holdings with Wilson. Plowden declined to go into further detail about how the attorney came about the alleged discrepancy.
This is still a civil matter and Wilson has not been arrested. But people are now feeling duped (from the same story):
Amy Smith said her grandfather had invested all or part of his 401(k) with Wilson within the last year, having been pointed to the silver salesman by church friends.
Smith said the sales pitches happened at an Easley restaurant and involved salespeople in addition to Wilson.
“It’d be packed full of people. They’d do a slide show and everything was about how the economy was terrible and the bubbles were going to pop,” Smith said. “They’d use Bible verses to convince these religious senior citizens that they would be going to hell if they didn’t leave their children money. They were very, very convincing.”
As it stands now, a
class action suit has been filed against Wilson and two of his cronies, as reported by WSPA-TV:
There is now a class action complaint against former Anderson County councilman Ron Wilson and his company Atlantic Bullion and Coin, Inc ("AB&C").
The lawsuit also names Tracy and Ed Atwell as defendants and principles of Professional Planning. Multiple investors tell 7 On Your Side they were connected to AB&C through Professional Planning, Inc.
A civil complaint filed two weeks ago by the Attorney General's Office against Ron Wilson does not list the Atwells.
The Secret Service and the South Carolina Attorney General's office are investigating whether or not criminal charges will be filed against Wilson. Neither agency will say if the Atwells are being investigated. Tom Griffin, Resident Agent in Charge of the Greenville Secret Service Office, says, "I will confirm that we're investigating everyone that had a business relationship with ABC."
I leave you with a Keith Olbermann 'blast from the past.'
You Tube (link) of KO's Worst Person in the World! This time, Sean Hannity, who is hawking gold on his radio show. He's still doing it because he can.