The E-Sylum: Volume 10, Number 29, July 22, 2007, Article 23
HOUSTON PRESS ARTICLE RECOUNTS BOILER-ROOM COIN SALES TACTICS
By request we have removed the text of this item from our web site.
Below is a copy of the letter we received and follow-up text the Houston
Press placed at the end of the article we originally quoted. The URL is
shown below for anyone who wants to reconstruct it and access the original
article.
-Editor
FOLLOW-UP: In a deposition taken nearly four months after publication of
this article, Maureen O'Neill stated that she did not invest her entire life
savings in coins; she testified that she had assets worth substantially more
than she spent on coins. Ms. O'Neill testified that she lives on a fixed
income and had to take money out of a certificate of deposit and stocks to
buy coins, that her total purchases were nearly $190,000, and that she
believes she was charged about $100,000 more than the coins were worth.
In the deposition, Ms. O'Neill also stated that she did not take out a
$50,000 home equity loan for the purpose of purchasing coins. Ms. O'Neill
testified that she had a preexisting home equity line of credit and drew
$30,000 on that line of credit to buy coins.
Also, Ms. O'Neill testified that she did not use money from her IRA accounts
to buy coins because she was unable to do so. She testified that she did
move money out of stocks and cashed in a CD to buy coins. Further, she
confirmed that her daughter filed a complaint with Florida authorities that
1st National Reserve representatives encouraged her to sell her retirement
holdings in order to make coin purchases, which she did.
Finally, the Houston Press article refers to "depositions" of former First
Fidelity Reserve employees Lance Loftin and Aaron Freeman. These were
actually sworn statements under oath from these former employees, but were
not "depositions" because the former employees were not subject to
cross-examination.
To read the complete article, see:
www.houstonpress.com/
2007-07-19/news/
texas-coin-companies-target-elderly-investors/
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com
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