RICHARD W. SUTER

In the past, The E-Sylum has noted numismatic authors who have been sentenced to prison. The short list includes Dale Estin Birdsell, Walter Breen, Robert Harry Burnie, Charles Lynn Glazer and Frank Albert Lapa. This week another might be added to the list, if his book exists.

Richard W. Suter was identified as the author of How Not to Get Ripped Off in the Coin Business. The book was marketed through Suter's National Investment Publication Co. This is apparently quite a scarce title.

In April of 1973, a Richard W. Suter joined the ANA from Sierra Madre, California as Member R-74189. Another Richard W. Suter joined the ANA in May 1974 as member R-79267 from Chicago, Illinois. In 1981 member R-79267 was expelled from the ANA for failure to fulfill coin orders.

Coin World published a flattering description of Suter in their issue of May 28, 1975:

In 1976, Suter was chairman of the Libertarian Party for Illinois. They promoted lower taxes and less government regulation. Later he was also executive vice president and lobbyist for the National Taxpayers United of Illinois.

In 1976, Suter was a member of the Numismatic Literary Guild. He published two investment newsletters, the National Portfolio Reporter with 500 subscriptions in 1980 and the National Hard Assets Reporter. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued his credentials on February 28, 1969, and revoked his credentials as a commodity trading advisor in 1979. That's when his credibility began to collapse.

In 1982, the Security and Exchange Commission also revoked his credentials as an investment advisor. They claimed Suter failed to give refunds as promised in his promotional literature. The SEC challenged his published claim that he had twenty-years experience as a stock market analyst. That would have required him to start at age thirteen.

The SEC questioned his published qualifications, his stated educational background and his claimed success with no documentation of his investments. Suter kept poor records of his subscriptions and income and denied access to his records. The SEC found that complimentary testimonials were given by people who did not exist.

Subscribers complained that he charged for subscriptions multiple times and forged signatures on credit card orders. His bank froze his account after numerous complaints and refunds. Suter was charged with fraud and misrepresentation with his Investment newsletters, Initially there were no charges for numismatic crimes.

He offered investment units in his newsletter offering the profits from future subscription sales. After Suter was issued a restraining order, he used the name Kenneth Wilson to mail out another subscription offer to investors. Wilson also offered a Commodity Profit Fund and collected $100,000 in investments.

In August 1982, he was indicted by a federal grand jury on 23 counts of mail fraud with his numismatic business. Suter solicited orders, offered to acquire rare coins, evaluate them and ship them to the customer. He in some cases shipped inferior coins and in many cases shipped no coins to fulfill an order. He negotiated the charges down to just two, pleaded guilty and was required to pay $67,830 in restitution.

One week before sentencing, he filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He claimed the record showed he did not understand the charges against him, was not advised of the consequences of his plea and that there was no factual basis for his plea. The court rejected his motion. He filed for bankruptcy but the court also denied that.

In July of 1985, he began serving a year in prison at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. In December he was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and put into a work release program. He was released from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from Friday morning to Sunday evening. He immediately resumed publication of his newsletter and solicited funds through a pseudonym.

This time it was Roy Glenwich of Galaxy Co. offering $1000 shares in a limited partnership. A cover letter offered investors profits of 305% each year.

Richard W. Suter was released from prison in April of 1986 and remained on probation for five years. He was ordered to stay out of the coin business.

The author may have been Richard William Suter, the son of William Albert Suter and Helena Emma Fraatz, born in Miami on March 10, 1948, and died on May 12, 1997.

I found 98 newspaper articles pointing out the irony of the book author being convicted of ripping off people in the coin business. None of those articles suggested that the book itself may have been part of the fraud.

I am distressed that I could not locate a copy. I did not find the record of a sale. It is not available through Inter-Library loan. I checked a bookseller site without success. As a last resort, I called a local library. The librarian consulted all available sources including Worldcat and did not find a copy of the book.

There are two possible explanations. Perhaps the book was distributed in a small quantity and none have made their way into an institutional collection or, the book was a promotional fantasy concocted by Suter. Can any E-Sylum reader locate a copy?

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LOOSE CHANGE: MARCH 31, 2024 : Numismatic Investment Literature (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n13a28.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web