Glenn beck's goldline sponsor charged with fraud

They were loyal to Glenn Beck... even after scores of other sponsors had abandoned him during his Fox News decline and fall last year.

Goldline International uses radio right-wingers like Beck, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham to pan for gold in the abundant streams of America's gullible. Not surprisingly, gullibility makes for solid client bases for both radio talkers and gold hustlers.

Beck's fevered but sincere-sounding recommendations for listeners to buy Goldline's products as a hedge for the apocalyptic collapse of "Obama's America" were usually without mention of his conflict of interest. He would devote whole segments to this concluding that the smart money should buy gold from someone they trusted. And, of course, he had a suggestion...

Now the company has been accused of bait & switch, and other frauds. Here's a MotherJones piece about how these gold-diggers work it.

Goldline Execs Charged With Fraud
By MATTHEW MOSK and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Nov. 1, 2011
ABC News

Goldline, a company that used endorsements from Glenn Beck and other conservative icons to sell hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers, has been charged with theft and fraud in a 19-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday by local officials in California.

The complaint alleges that Goldline "runs a bait and switch operation in which customers, seeking to invest in gold bullion, are switched to highly overpriced coins by using false and misleading claims," according to a statement released by the consumer affairs division of the Santa Monica City Attorney's office.

The company has been charged in the court filing with misdemeanors that include theft by false pretenses, false advertising, and conspiracy, the City Attorney's office said. In addition to the charges against the company, the complaint accuses former CEO Mark Albarian, executives Robert Fazio and Luis Beeli, and salespeople Charles Boratgis and Stephanie Howard of defrauding customers. Current CEO Scott Carter is accused of making false or misleading statements. Each of the charged offenses carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and maximum fines of between $1,000 and $10,000 per offense.

Comments

[JimF]

Glenn beck's ass isn't the only one saved by gold coin spots, radio could never have survived this far into this recession w/o them. It's probably the single most reliable advertiser - and for television too.

[Chucks]

I must admit that I have never had a problem with advertising a new car with crank windows and a five speed manual and then switching the customer to a comparable car with the toys they may prefer for a little more money. You just have to be reasonable in what you charge for the extra toys.
Safeway brings you in with low prices on store brand french fries but charge you a bit more for the better quality Ore-Ida stuff.
This is probably another pure bullshit claim by some liberal dimocrat prosecutor in some liberal dimocrat county in a no doubt liberal dimocrat state. It will certainly be determined to be unfounded long after the damage is done by the liberal dimocrat press and bloggers.
Thank God for the innocent until proven guilty part of our laws. Too bad people are stupid enough to believe these charges without any evidence of wrong doing.

[der Moderate]

Sponsors charged with fraud is old news. It becomes big news when they sponsor the conservative side. It's kept somewhat quiet when it happens to the liberal/progressive side. I'm sure if either side had any idea of this occurring in their future, they wouldn't take the risk of having them as sponsor.

[JimF]

The point is that radio radio talent mixes the sponsor's message seamlessly into the content. They're all doing it now, at least the national talkers, and they're well paid for it.

[Johnny Sombrerro]

I haven't heard anyone suing Safeway over frozen fries...

[plobo]

Goldline customers seeking to recover losses- http://goldlinelawsuit.com