NEW LAWSUIT AGAINST NATIONAL GOLD EXCHANGE OWNERS

Mark and Alan Yaffe, brothers accused of misappropriating millions in gold coins, are facing another lawsuit.

The Yaffes formerly operated a gold and rare coin company in North Tampa called National Gold Exchange. Their business was embroiled in controversy in 2009 when Sovereign Bank — to whom the Yaffes owed millions — got a tip that they were improperly using some of National Gold's assets.

When the bank performed an accounting of National Gold, it discovered millions of the business' rare coins were missing. The bank sued, and the gold company eventually was liquidated in bankruptcy court. Mark Yaffe has been trying to sell his 29,000-square-foot mansion in Avila to pay off his creditors.

Now two men are claiming the Yaffes misappropriated their money.

This month, Gene Sanders, of Crete, Ill., and Kirk Kelly, of Greenville, S.C., filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County Circuit Court against the Yaffes and other parties related to them. Sanders and Kelly claim Mark Yaffe offered in 2009 to let them in on a deal involving rare European coins.

Basically, Yaffe and the two men would purchase the coins from Europe, sell them immediately to gold dealer Goldline International and split the profit. Eventually, Sanders and Kelly provided Yaffe with about $1.05 million in cash and rare coins to make the purchase, according to the suit.

However, the men never received their share of the money, their lawsuit states. Instead, Sanders and Kelly allege that the Yaffe brothers diverted their money to a side business and still carried out the European coin deal, unbeknownst to Sanders and Kelly.

To read the complete article, see: Bankrupt Tampa gold dealers sued (www2.tbo.com/business/business/2012/oct/23/mebizo1-bankrupt
-tampa-gold-dealers-sued-ar-541162/)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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