GOLDline Int'l grift
this node is for all gold co (not mining)
merrri ok
std online grift // nutritional supplements
see stew peters
see apocalypse end times hype fear
russell brand
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aha see newsletters How to benefit from the coming crash hits both greed and fear emotion, Sr cits and gop sensitive to threat, this allows concrete action to mitigate
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mma
The right-wing media is steeped in con culture
Laura Ingraham hawks gold by warning of economic disaster under Harris — but economists say Trump would be worse
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/01/24
When the going gets tough, right-wing commentators get grifting — though to be fair, they also rile up their audiences so they can profit off them in good times.
Take Laura Ingraham. On Tuesday morning, the Fox News host previewed the evening’s vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance by urging her X followers to buy gold and silver from her sponsor in order to avoid “a potential Harris/Walz disaster” to their personal finances.
Ingraham linked to a dedicated landing page featuring her endorsement of GoldPro, a precious metals investment company whose right-wing sponsors have included Ingraham’s Fox colleague Sean Hannity and Stew Peters, a white nationalist and antisemitic streamer who has called for the execution of journalists.
Ingraham’s LauraLikesGold.com testimonial states that “our current Administration has done nothing to make the lives of everyday American families better,” citing factors like “Rising Inflation,” “Increasing National debt,” and “a looming recession.”
“Will it ever get better?” she added. “Expert analysts are not hopeful, which is why I encourage you to learn how gold and silver can be a great way to hedge against these economic factors eating away at your nest egg.”
It is certainly amusing that in exchange for money, Ingraham is warning her audience both that former President Donald Trump may lose the 2024 presidential election and that even if he wins, his economic performance will prove so poor that they need to buy gold and silver as a hedge.
But Ingraham’s paid missive both defies what economists and other experts say about the relative merits of the plans put forward by Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, and provides a stark example of how right-wing pundits enrich themselves on the backs of their followers.
Analyses: Trump’s plans would lead to higher deficits, higher inflation, and lower growth than Harris’
While Ingraham is urging followers to “protect yourself from a potential Harris/Walz disaster” by buying precious metals from her sponsor as a hedge against inflation, debt, and a recession, experts say that Trump is actually the bigger threat on all counts.
More than 400 economists and policymakers signed a letter last month endorsing Harris and touting her plans to “build a strong, pro-growth economy for all Americans.”
By contrast, the letter stated, Trump’s proposed policies — which include plans for massive tariffs on all imported goods, mass deportations, and reducing the independence of the Federal Reserve — “risk reigniting inflation and threaten the United States’ global standing and domestic economic stability. Nonpartisan researchers have predicted that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will lower GDP growth and increase the unemployment rate.”
The mass endorsement from economists came just weeks after 16 Nobel Prize winners released their own letter warning the American public of the devastating effects of Trump's second term agenda.
A new study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that “Trump’s promises would spike inflation and wipe out jobs,” according to CNN. The study concluded that Trump’s proposals, if implemented, would trigger a decline in employment of 2.7% to 9% by 2028; a spike in inflation to between 6% and 9.3% by 2026; and 2.8% to nearly 10% lower economic growth as measured by GDP by the end of a second Trump term.
An assessment of the candidates’ plans from Bloomberg News found that Trump’s tax plans would lead to higher national deficits and debt and higher inflation than would Harris’, while his immigration and trade proposals would hammer growth.
- ### The right-wing media is built on grifting
The financial model for right-wing media is built on what I’ve termed con culture: Outlets and commentators attract a loyal audience through political demagoguery, seal them into a bubble by attacking mainstream information sources that present contradictory narratives, and then bilk those marks for all they are worth.
They tell their audience that companies are liberal and corrupt — whether they sell children’s entertainment or razors or nicotine pouches — then offer their own alternatives.
They tell their audience that they can’t trust medical experts — then sell them out to quacks hawking fake cures for real medical conditions and dubious brain pills.
They tell their audience that economic doom is imminent — then peddle them survival food, scammy financial products, and, in Ingraham’s case, precious metals.
These arrangements can prove extremely lucrative for the pundits.
“Two media dealmakers who have been involved in negotiations between conservative media figures and the gold IRA industry said revenue from the companies can amount to as much as 10 percent of total earnings for some personalities … one said the biggest personalities stand to earn millions of dollars a year,” The Washington Post reported in an investigation last year into the right-wing media’s paid promotion of such companies.
Indeed, Trump himself personifies this type of grift. While running for president, he is currently pitching his followers cryptocurrency, watches priced at up to $100,000, his own version of the Bible, an array of pricey branded shoes, digital trading cards, and much, much more.
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MMA
These are the companies paying to advertise on RNC co-chair Lara Trump's podcast
WRITTEN BY JACINA HOLLINS-BORGES
PUBLISHED 06/18/24
On her podcast, RNC co-chair Lara Trump maintains a collection of conservative-branded utility, doomsday prep, and supplement company sponsors. Throughout her show, Trump has promoted election denial and conspiracy theories which claim that Democrats will try to steal the 2024 election.
In the 41 episodes between March 8, when she was elected co-chair, and June 12, Lara did ad reads for the following 8 sponsors: Association of Mature American Citizens, Patriot Mobile, MyPillow, Swiss America, Balance of Nature, ReadyWise, UpWellness, and Googipet.
The Association of Mature American Citizens — whose advocacy arm, AMAC Action, is a Project 2025 partner — publishes content to persuade members that the 2024 election will be stolen partially because of “universal mail-in voting,” a method that Trump has been trying to persuade skeptical Republican voters can now be trusted. Trump advertised for AMAC 16 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to AMAC logo
CitationScreenshot of the April 4, 2024, edition of The Right View
Patriot Mobile is a Christian nationalist cell phone service provider with ties to figures who promote the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” or “the belief that Christians are called on to dominate the seven key ‘mountains’ of American life, including business, media, government and education.” Trump advertised for Patriot Mobile in all episodes, or 41 times, in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to Patriot Mobile logo and above discount code
CitationScreenshot of the May 7, 2024, edition of The Right View
MyPillow is owned by election denier and Trump ally Mike Lindell, who is currently in the throes of two defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems. Trump advertised for MyPillow 29 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to MyPillow logo
CitationScreenshot of the May 9, 2024, edition of The Right View
Swiss America is a gold and silver trading company, for which Trump promotes “The Secret War on Cash,” a report warning consumers about Democrat lawmakers supposedly pushing for a “digital dollar that could allow the government to tell us what we can and cannot buy,” and teaching them how to protect themselves from such “threats facing our freedom and your hard-earned money.” Trump advertised for Swiss America 27 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump above Swiss America logo
CitationScreenshot of the March 26, 2024, edition of The Right View
Balance of Nature is a supplement company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, advertising watchdog Truth in Advertising filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that the company was falsely claiming that its products could prevent coronavirus infection. Trump advertised for Balance of Nature 9 times in the allotted period.
Still of Lara Trump above the Balance of Nature logo
CitationScreenshot of the March 28, 2024, edition of The Right View
ReadyWise is an emergency food kit company. Trump advertised for it 12 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to ReadyWise logo and discount code
CitationScreenshot of the June 5, 2024, edition of The Right View
UpWellness is a supplement company. Trump advertised for it 11 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to UpWellness logo and discount code
CitationScreenshot of the May 29, 2024, edition of The Right View
Googipet is a dog-oriented supplement company. Trump advertised for it 17 times in this period.
Still of Lara Trump next to googipet logo
CitationScreenshot of the April 24, 2024, edition of The Right View
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mma11 23
Newsmax is not known for shying away from support of “one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had,” as one host described alleged felon Donald J. Trump. That support includes the network’s coverage of Trump’s civil trial for fraud in New York, which has featured compliments for a Trump son's hair, a semi-regular soapbox for a Trump family member, and vicious attacks against Judge Arthur Engoron and his family over unverified photos and memes.
Like much of its pro-Trump coverage, Newsmax’s increasingly scummy, personal lines of attack seem geared to turn yet another thing that in theory should be a negative for Trump in the primary — this time, decades of alleged fraud — into a positive. To that end, the network has employed a familiar and false refrain, asserting that investors were not just paid but “overpaid, since the assets were inflated,” so “there were no victims,” just the perennial “witch hunt.” But, Newsmax warns, hinting at revenge, “the last laugh will be on all of them” once Trump returns to office.
On November 9, guest host Lidia Curanaj began The Chris Salcedo Show by celebrating that Trump “has truly damaged people on the left by proving all of his critics wrong, by being one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had.”
Citing a social media post featuring anti-Trump memes as an example of these “damaged” people, Curanaj scandalously reported that “the author of this tweet [is] reportedly the wife of Judge Engoron. Yes! The same Democrat activist judge that is now trying to dismantle President Trump’s substantial financial empire,” before going on to note that she has “refuted that it’s her X account.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 9, 2023, edition of Newsmax's The Chris Salcedo Show
She also attacked Engoron himself, calling him, “someone whose discernment is questionable, to say the least.”
“This guy is just so smug,” Curanaj complained, referencing a video of Engoron, “the way he smiles there, mugging for the cameras as if he’s the star of some kind of 90s sitcom.”
Then, after apologizing “if you just had some lunch or dinner,” Curanaj brought up the rumor that Judge Engoron “posted two nude torso photos of himself” online, commenting “thank god that camera was blocking the lower area.”
The unsubstantiated claim comes from a Gateway Pundit post that was soon shared by Trump on Truth Social; the photos are purportedly workout progress photos someone posted to Engoron’s high school alumni newsletter online, but it has not been confirmed that it’s him in the pictures.
With a “censored” bar covering the male figure’s nipples, Curanaj attempted to shame Engoron: “If there was a shirtless photo of me I would lose my job, right? Because Newsmax would say, ‘What kind of judgment does Lidia have to do something like that?’ And he just recently did it. This is not something he did many years ago.”
After also ripping into New York Attorney General Letitia James, Curanaj groused that “the last laugh will be on all of them when President Trump becomes the president of the United States again.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 9, 2023, edition of Newsmax's The Chris Salcedo Show
The network's over-the-top coverage of the civil fraud trial has been on display for weeks. On November 1, prime-time host Rob Schmitt read a brief report about Donald Trump Jr’s testimony, pausing to note that his “hair looks good” in the low-angle shot Newsmax used. When the picture changed to Judge Engoron, he quipped “that one, not so much,” before denouncing “one of the stupidest cases New York has ever brought, and believe me this state has brought some stupid cases,” noting that other New York real estate developers called it “outrageous.”
The entire time, the report shared half a screen with an advertisement for gold-backed IRA retirement accounts, telling viewers to text the promotional code “NEWSMAX” to a six-digit phone number.
“So that tells you a lot,” Schmitt said of the developers’ criticism.
Video
CitationFrom the November 1, 2023, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
Newsmax has also continued to platform Trump’s daughter-in-law, and co-defendant Eric Trump’s wife, Lara Trump. Though Trump’s appearances and guest hosting spots are often dedicated to attacking President Joe Biden and pushing corruption allegations against his family, she also occasionally discusses her own family’s fraud trial.
“My husband and my brother-in-law were both in a New York courtroom today,” Trump complained while guest hosting Rob Schmitt Tonight on November 2. Parroting a real estate lawyer quoted by the New York Post, Trump insisted: “There were no victims. No one lost money. No one got hurt. Everyone got paid in full — even overpaid since the assets were inflated.”
“For this detestable woman,” Trump said of James, “it’s not about the law. It’s all about getting Trump.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 2, 2023, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
“This witch hunt isn’t just unethical,” Trump warned, “this honestly could have ripple effects across other multi-billion dollar industries.” Her guest, right-wing attorney Jordan Sekulow, agreed, suggesting there was a deeper level of betrayal in the fact that the lawsuit came in New York, “after everything the Trump family has done for the city of New York.”
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Lance Wallnau Sees Gold in Fearmongering About ‘Confiscation’ of Retirement Funds | Right Wing Watch
commentary
Trump supporter and self-promoter Lance Wallnau, an ardent advocate for Seven Mountains Dominionism, is promoting shameful fearmongering that financial “elites” are preparing to “confiscate” Americans’ retirement accounts. Wallnau’s letter to Christian Post readers arrived in email inboxes this week with the subject line, “World-Renowned Preacher Warns Americas to ACT NOW Before Elites Confiscate Retirement Accounts.”
Wallnau’s email begins by highlighting his supposed prophetic gift for predicting the future, as evidenced by his proclamations that Donald Trump would be elected president—the email even includes a picture of the two of them together—and moves swiftly into a dire warning:
I’m Lance Wallnau, Christian author, educator and news analyst for thirty years. In 2016, I was one of the few evangelical leaders to accurately predict Donald Trump’s Presidency and historic impact.
Now, heading into 2024, I want to warn you about something which will almost certainly negatively affect your life.
Wallnau’s email explains that he is writing about “The Total Control of All Financial Accounts…Including ALL 401(k)s and IRAs,” adding, “This is a big prediction. But I am now very confident this is coming to pass.”
Wallnau’s supposed evidence for this claim? That at the most recent G20 meeting, “the most powerful people in the world could NOT stop talking about Central Bank Digital Currencies.” While CBDC’s are a complicated and controversial financial instrument being considered by many governments, and while there are ongoing debates about their potential dangers for privacy and economic stability, that’s a far cry from Wallnau’s claims that Americans’ retirement accounts are at risk of being confiscated by these global “elites.”
Hawking gold has been a financial mainstay of right-wing media outlets and online personalities for years. For religious-right pundits like Wallnau, promoting gold as a hedge against financial and societal collapse can dovetail with broader apocalyptic messaging.
A few months ago, The Washington Post wrote about the extensive marketing on right-wing media of gold coins as a retirement investment, often with outrageous markups. Reporter Hanna Kozlowska, one of the authors of the Post report, followed up with an August story for MSNBC, noting that their research found that older people who watch conservative media are “bombarded” with ads for gold:
We’ve spoken to customers who are disabled, homebound or living only on Social Security, their lives upended by losing their only nest eggs. And although complaints and allegations of fraud against these companies have been public for years, right-wing media outlets have continued to benefit by accepting their advertising.
The kind of fearmongering pitch Wallnau’s email included is a common sales tactic, according to Kozlowska. “To lure customers, the companies often use fear-based and politically tinged messaging in their advertising and on sales calls,” she wrote for MSNBC, citing an example of an ad sent to a Newsmax list claiming, “Nancy Pelosi has been on a secret mission to KILL the US Dollar.”
Wallnau’s recent email encourages readers to get a kit explaining “how to transfer your current retirement funds into a physical gold IRA without paying a dime in penalties or taxes.” Clicking on the link provided takes readers to a webpage that includes another message from Wallnau invoking God and the Bible to back his pitch:
I’m an author, public speaker, business consultant and man of God. We’re living in an age of economic and social crisis. Don’t be afraid, though. We can tap into our spiritual faith to endure adversity, and the Bible explains how we ready ourselves. God gave Noah a blueprint for the ark, and I believe God has empowered us to build our very own financial arks for the stormy seas ahead.
Birch Gold Group didn’t need the recent G20 conversations about CBDCs to sound the alarm about “confiscation.” It sent Daily Wire subscribers an email in April 2022 with the subject line, “Biden Lackeys Found Planning this ‘Confiscation’ of Savings.” It warned that deficit spending and inflation amounted to an unannounced confiscation of people’s retirement nest eggs, and offered a kit that would show them “how to LEGALLY convert your retirement savings into the rock-solid foundation of precious metals.” That echoed a similar email from two years earlier. And they’re not the only ones warning about “confiscation.”. Subscribers to The Blaze got a similar message from GSI Exchange. The Hartford Gold Group sent a similar email last year to readers of The Patriot Post
Despite the sales rhetoric about gold being a safe haven, investing in gold is not a sure thing. Between 1990 and the beginning of 2023, stocks provided a better return than gold; gold has done better since 2000, but dropped between 2020 and 2022 and has been relatively flat in 2023. And that’s not taking into effect huge fees and markups that can face unwary buyers of gold and gold coins.
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aha seniors uniquely vulnerable to grift b/c not soc med savvy, ppl get more conserv as age, easy to scare /hype thus con; also hype fear in escalator echo bubble
note no left equiv
https://www.alternet.org/gold-ira-right-wing-media/
no ln 7 23
How 'gold IRA' industry ads became a 'mainstay of right-wing media': report
Fox News' Laura Ingraham In July 2022 (Gage Skidmore).
Alex Henderson July 25, 2023
For many years, right-wing media outlets have been aggressively promoting gold as a safe haven for retirees. Anyone who has spent a lot of time consuming right-wing media, be it Fox News, Fox Business and Newsmax TV or AM talk radio, has likely come across gold commercials.
:{
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In a report published by the Washington Post on July 25, journalists Jeremy B. Merrill and Hanna Kozlowska stress that the "gold retirement investment industry" has "become a mainstay of right-wing media."
"An analysis by The Post of political newsletters, social media, podcasts and a national database of television ads collected by the company AdImpact found that pitches to invest in gold coins are a daily presence in media that caters to a right-wing audience and often echo conservative talking points about looming economic and societal collapse," Merrill and Kozlowska explain. "The Post found no similar ads for gold retirement investments in mainstream or left-wing media sources in the databases."
READ MORE: Fox News' relationship with Turning Point USA is 'basically over': report
Lawsuits against "gold IRA" companies, according to Merrill and Kozlowska, are not uncommon. One of the companies that has been sued is Lear Capital, a Fox News advertiser that sells gold and silver coins.
The Washington Post reporters note that "over the past decade, more than 30 customers in 20 states have sued a dozen gold IRA companies."
Terry White, a disabled retiree, told the Post he invested $174,000 in gold coins with Lear and found out the company charges a 33 percent commission. White said he lost almost $80,000.
"For years," Merrill and Kozlowska report, "gold IRA industry advertising has echoed accusations against Democratic politicians commonly found in news segments on conservative outlets. The ads tout the coins as a safe haven from economic uncertainty and social upheaval. Most of the coins are manufactured by the Royal Canadian Mint, which says they're bullion — a kind of coin whose value is determined by the underlying metal. As such, they meet IRS rules for retirement investments."
READ MORE: 'They must comply': Newsmax employees subpoenaed in Smartmatic defamation lawsuit
According to Merrill and Kozlowska, an "analysis of ad data and financial records" shows that the"gold IRA" industry "spends millions of dollars a year to reach viewers of Fox, Newsmax and other conservative outlets."
:{
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"Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have promoted the coins," the Post reporters observe, "while ads for Lear's competitors have appeared on a podcast hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Newsmax broadcasts of former President Donald Trump's political rallies."
READ MORE: Tucker Carlson's Twitter viewership falling as battle with Fox News stalls: report
Find the Washington Post's full report at this link (subscription required).
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aha funny they call us alarmists, but apocalypse economy collapse hype fear anger greed constant
https://boingboing.net/2023/03/06/grifters-gonna-grift.html
don jr kim guilfoyle cpac 2023
gold
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannons-dodgy-nonprofit-teamed-up-with-company-linked-to-gold-scammers
no lnx db teads
Steve Bannon’s Dodgy Nonprofit Teamed Up With Company Linked to Accused Gold Scammers
DIGGING DEEPER
Platinum Advertising, which worked for Bannon’s Citizens of the American Republic, tied to firm accused of defrauding seniors of $185 million.
William Bredderman
Researcher
Published Sep. 27, 2020
When former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s nonprofit sought to restore an American golden age, it turned to a company with connections to a consortium that allegedly strip-mined the retirement accounts of elderly conservatives, The Daily Beast has discovered.
Bannon’s “economic nationalist” group Citizens of the American Republic hired the Wyoming-based firm Platinum Advertising Corporation in 2018 to handle its “websites/social media,” Internal Revenue Service records show. A tangle of corporate and legal documents ties Platinum Advertising to TMTE Inc.—a precious metal dealer accused on Friday of fraudulently extracting $185 million from senior citizens by selling them overpriced bullion.
The massive joint action the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission and 30 states announced against TMTE alleged that the Los Angeles-based company had suckered 1,600 mostly silver-haired victims into sinking their life savings into precious metals sold at up to 300 percent of their market value. The charges are familiar to anybody who has followed the long trail of news reports and regulatory actions describing how TMTE—which has variously used the monikers Access Unlimited, TEM, Chase Metals, and Metals.com—cashed in on the right-wing paranoia of the Trump era.
Even prior to the CFTC-led case on Friday, a dozen states, including Alabama and Kentucky, had accused TMTE of posing as an investment adviser and bilking senior citizens of their assets. Articles in Quartz last year detailed how the company used a combination of politically themed Facebook ads, talk radio spots, misleading websites, and high-pressure telephone sales tactics to target right-leaning, Fox News-viewing retirees and convince them to purchase gold and silver at hugely inflated rates. These efforts often involved overt biblical appeals, or echoed the rhetoric of President Donald Trump and Republican pundits by invoking the threat “liberals” and the “Deep State” supposedly posed to the economy and to the victims’ personal finances.
“Metals[.com] reached potential investors through advertisements on Facebook, conservative talk radio show, and conservative-leaning financial newsletters,” Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan told The Daily Beast. “They targeted these ads at potential investors at or near retirement age with conservative political leanings.”
These echo findings in Missouri, Arkansas, and Nevada that TMTE relied on ominous advertising, “scare tactics,” and “misstatements and omitted information” to sell marked-up coins to vulnerable people aged 60 and up. Despite signing multiple cease-and-desist deals and disgorging millions of dollars, TMTE has publicly denied ever committing fraud.
Citizens of the American Republic’s bank-shot association with TMTE, which has never before been revealed, is just the latest problematic partnership for Bannon, who was caught up in a two-count federal indictment alleging fraud at a separate nonprofit, We Build the Wall, Inc. But the ties between the former Breitbart chairman and TMTE are less direct and more complex than his relationship to the alleged private border wall grifting operation.
The most recent tax forms Citizens of the American Republic filed with the Internal Revenue Service show it paid Platinum Advertising Corporation $143,655 in 2018 to shape its web presence. Platinum Advertising’s filings in Wyoming reveal little, beyond that the company registered in that jurisdiction in 2018. Gerald Pitts was listed as its secretary and director. Pitts runs Wyoming Corporate Services, which has filed paperwork in the notoriously opaque state for dozens of clients, including TMTE.
But Platinum Advertising—named for one of the priciest precious metals on Earth—also registered an affiliate in March of this year in California, where TMTE operates. And the registration statement bears the name and distinctive signature of Conor O’Reilly, whose LinkedIn profile shows he was employed full-time during that period as in-house counsel and compliance officer to Metals.com. Among his listed responsibilities were “reviewing, revising, and approving any legal work done on behalf of the company” and “the formation of various entities.”
O’Reilly’s signature also marks the cease-and-desist and rescission agreements that TMTE and its affiliates agreed to in Colorado and Texas in 2019. In May 2020, two months after registering Platinum Advertising in the Golden State, he Docusigned a consent order with the Missouri secretary of state, again identifying himself as TMTE’s counsel and compliance officer.
TMTE’s attorney, Charles Harder—who has also recently represented Trump and his family—initially denied any link between TMTE and Platinum Advertising, even going so far as to suggest the latter company may not be real.
“Today is the first day that TMTE has ever heard of the existence of ‘Platinum Advertising Corp.’ (assuming that it exists),” he wrote in an email. “TMTE knows nothing about it and, again, is not in any way affiliated with it.”
Confronted with the evidence of O’Reilly’s involvement in Platinum, Harder asserted that the lawyer “was not exclusive to TMTE—he also did legal work separate from, and completely unaffiliated with, TMTE.”
This claim contradicts all publicly available evidence regarding O’Reilly, who did not reply to calls or emails from The Daily Beast. His LinkedIn profile characterizes his employment arrangement with Metals.com as “full-time” and “in-house,” and does not list any other work as an attorney. O’Reilly was admitted to the bar in December 2018, just one month before he began his job at Metals.com, and he is the only person by that name licensed to practice law in California.
During negotiations with the Texas State Securities Board in 2019, O’Reilly presented himself as an important official at TMTE.
“He represented that he had the authority to contractually bind the company,” said Enforcement Division Director Joseph Rotunda. “We are not talking about a low-level employee.”
Rotunda told The Daily Beast he was familiar with Platinum Advertising, but could not say whether it was involved in any criminal scheme, due to the ongoing legal actions.
[Steve Bannon Is Behind Bogus Study That China Created COVID https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-linked-groups-push-study-claiming-china-manufactured-covid
STUDY BUDDY
Adam Rawnsley,
Lachlan Markay]
Further, all other legal documents bearing O’Reilly’s name or signature are traceable to TMTE or one or more of its principals. The only corporate entity besides Platinum Advertising he has registered at the state level is USA Marketing Inc., another California affiliate of a Wyoming company originally incorporated by Pitts. USA Marketing uses the same Golden State address, inside Los Angeles’s Century Plaza Towers complex, as Platinum Advertising.
Wyomingfilings from late 2019 list Graham Norris, a Utah-based lawyer, as USA Marketing’s “director.” Norris, who frequently works with Pitts, was listed as TMTE’s CEO, CFO, and secretary in a 2018 filing in California. A 2019 lawsuit brought by former executive vice president of sales at Chase Metals identified Norris as one of that company’s three principals.
In May this year O’Reilly applied for a trademark on behalf of another Wyoming-based precious metals-slinging company called Capital Today, Inc.
Capital Today’s state-level corporate filings are highly similar to Platinum Advertising’s. In Wyoming, both initially usedGerald Pitts as their registration agent, then switched to the Cloud Peak Law Group. In California, both firms used the exact same Wyoming address, the exact same California address, and the exact same agent for service of process—an Ethan D. Kirschner of Culver City, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Finally, the trademark application O’Reilly filed for Capital Today, which operates USAMint.com, used the address 8383 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 700, in Beverly Hills. Metals.com identified this location as one of its two in its correspondence with the Missouri secretary of state’s Securities Division, and the aforementioned lawsuit brought by the ex-sales executive described the Wilshire Boulevard suite as Chase Metals’ “principal business location.”
This also happens to be the address of Tower Equity—the investment firm founded by Norris’s fellow TMTE principals Lucas Asher and Simon Batashvili, which was also named and seized in the joint federal-state action on TMTE on Friday. All of this strongly indicates a nexus between Platinum Inc. and firms tied to TMTE—strongly enough that, when confronted with this evidence, a representative for TMTE walked back part of Harder’s statement in part.
The representative admitted that O’Reilly in fact had registered Platinum Advertising on the metal dealer’s behalf. However, they insisted that TMTE had only acquired the company as a “shelf entity” for future use in 2020, and that it was unaware of Platinum Advertising’s work for Bannon before and that the firm has not done any work with him since. Platinum Advertising, they maintained, currently has no assets, no employees, and has never had any business dealings during the time TMTE owned it. In fact, they asserted that the principals of TMTE had never even heard of Platinum Advertising before The Daily Beast inquired about it.
The TMTE representative declined to provide any documentation or on-the-record statements to substantiate these claims, and even suggested that Bannon might have hired another Platinum Advertising based in Wyoming. However, the state’s business records show only one entity of that name—the same one O’Reilly signed for in California.
In the TMTE representative’s version of events—at least, the version that lines up with the available documentary evidence—Bannon contracted Platinum Advertising to handle web and social media outreach for his conservative nonprofit. Then, sometime afterward,TMTE—which sells precious metals, including platinum, by targeting conservative voters on the web and through social media—happened to purchase the same company completely unaware of its history. Despite being completely empty and inactive, Platinum was somehow known to the Texas State Securities Board even when it was unknown to TMTE’s principals.
A representative for Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, did not answer repeated requests for comment.
Bannon has picked up a number of unsavory associates since his unceremonious exit from the White House in 2017. The Daily Beast revealed in June that the distributor of his podcast War Room is a longtime white-collar criminal. The former Goldman Sachs banker and Hollywood producer also launched several ventures with Guo Wengui, a billionaire Chinese national accused of an array of crimes in his home country, all of which he denies. Two of these entities have recently funded and promoted a dubious study asserting COVID-19 originated in a government lab in Wuhan.
It was on Wengui’s yacht that federal authorities arrested Bannon on fraud charges related to We Build the Wall Inc., itself a joint project with disabled war veteran, conservative activist, and serial entrepreneur Brian Kolfage—who has also been accused of misappropriating funds.
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mma 419
Right-wing commentator Herman Cain previously sent sponsored emails touting the alleged benefits of investing in precious metals, including a message from a gold company which claimed that a return to the gold standard “could provide the biggest wealth building event of our lifetime.” Cain is President Donald Trump’s pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, which helps set the country’s monetary policy.
Cain was previously the chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a Republican presidential candidate. He dropped out of the race in December 2011 after several women reported him for sexual misconduct. The Washington Post reported that one of those women, Sharon Bialek, has said she is “willing to testify before the Senate Banking Committee if called upon. And she said Cain’s past behavior with women, including three others who have accused him of sexual harassment, should disqualify him from the Fed post.”
His financial opinions have also come under scrutiny. Washington Post reporter Matt O’Brien recently wrote that “Cain spent the Obama years advocating for a return to the gold standard” -- which ties currency to the value of gold -- and explained why adopting such a policy would be problematic. He added that “literally every top economist in the University of Chicago Business School’s poll of them would tell you that the gold standard is a bad idea.”
Cain has used his email list to send paid advertisements which push gold and the gold standard. He sent a sponsored email on December 24 for the precious metals company Advantage Gold. The email, which was written by Advantage Gold Managing Director Kirill Zagalsky, claimed that House Resolution 5404, which is titled “To define the dollar as a fixed weight of gold” (also known as the gold standard), “could provide the biggest wealth building event of our lifetime” and “could double or even triple your retirement.” (The bill had no cosponsors and did not pass in the now-concluded 115th Congress.) Here’s an excerpt from the email:
[docs]
Clicking on the link in the email leads the readers to a form requesting that they enter their name, email address, and telephone number so they can receive a “secret” book chapter regarding gold.
In 2015, Cain similarly sent a sponsored email touting the supposed benefits of investing in gold and silver. The email, which was written by precious metals company Goldco, carried the subject line: “Your IRA or 401K Is Now Worthless.” It then claimed: “Just a few months ago, governments and central banks from all over the world met at the G20 Summit to decide the fate of your savings account should the worlds banks crash. Their decision? Your savings account is up for grabs. … But by using 1 simple & legal IRS Loophole you can protect your retirement dollars by adding physical assets like gold & silver to your retirement account.”
Media Matters has documented Cain’s other email grifts in light of his potential seating on the Federal Reserve Board:
Cain promoted anti-vaxxer and medical conspiracy theories through email list
Cain promoted numerous now-virtually-worthless penny stocks through his mailing list
Cain frequently promoted scammy financial emails
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early FAR hodaI
From out of the AM radio static, from out of the Internet ether, comes a voice like gravel, a bulldog barking out warnings to a nation under siege. This Austin, Texas-based “infowarrior” shouts through the streets, up to the fat cat drones and clones of the International Banker’s Cartel lodged deep in the overstuffed leather chairs of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Reserve, Capitol Hill. His voice booming and crackling through the New World Order halls of power in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), atireless seeker of the TRUTH against a blossoming police state and One World Government—this is Alex Jones.
Jones, radio and Internet talkshow host of the Alex Jones Show, documentarian, author and producer of websites like Infowars and Prison Planet, is the undisputed heavyweight king of conspiracy theory coverage, a niche he has successfully carved out in an enabling corporate media environment.
Jones’ coverage of the state of the nation revolves around one central theory: Agents of the New World Order, operating through several private think tanks and policy development groups (the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group), the United Nations and treasonous enclaves within the federal government (particularly the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FEMA), are working to establish a One World Government by engineering the total collapse of the American republic and the imposition of a police state.
This message reaches millions of listeners worldwide, through 68 AM, FM and satellite radio stations that either broadcast the weekday Alex Jones Show or carry the two-hour weekend edition. While Jones is a veteran radio broadcaster, he has become especially adept at propagating his message of impending doom via the Internet. Jones calls on his followers to spread his films and links to his stories lest they should disappear forever, claiming that corporations such as Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, are actively blocking and censoring access to his websites and documentaries.
“We’re winning the infowar and they’re cheating!” proclaimed Jones in an Internet censorship advisory video posted on YouTube (8/7/08).
Of course they’re cheating! They want tyranny! They want dehumanization! If every listener out there who’s on the website will just start copying our stories, emailing them out to everybody, posting them on their sites…. We have to let the New World Order know we’re not going to put up with this!
As noted by David Knowles of AOLNews (10/6/10), such tactics boost his websites’ Google rankings and draw more readers and viewers to his content; Jones’ documentary, The Obama Deception—with well over 8 million views through YouTube alone—is one of the top-viewed films through Google Video. The irony of using YouTube to attack YouTube in order to boost views on YouTube is apparently lost on his viewers; the Orwellian puppetmasters at Google seem to have created the ideal platform for Jones’ “infowar.”
According to Heidi Beirich, director of research and special projects at the hate group-monitoring Southern Poverty Law Center and contributing editor of the group’s Intelligence Report, Jones is a galvanizing force in the complex of domestic “militias” and other extremist groups the SPLC calls the “Patriot Movement.”
“This guy is conspiracy central,” Beirich says of Jones. “He’s had a hand in promoting every kooky anti-government theory I can think of: The economy is gonna crater, martial law is coming, Obama’s gonna steal your guns—you name it, he’s involved in it.”
Although Jones did not respond to multiple requests for comment, he regularly fires back at his detractors, SPLC chief among them. SPLC says Jones is a dangerous media “enabler” of potentially violent fringe groups; Jones says SPLC is instrumental in drafting “Patriot” domestic terrorist watch lists for the Department of Homeland Security.
Like many of Jones’ conspiratorial assertions, there is a kernel of truth buried in this claim. According to Beirich, the single largest bloc of subscribers to SPLC’s Intelligence Report, a quarterly publication with approximately 50,000 subscribers, are law enforcement personnel.
However, says Beirich, it’s not true that “there is some secret plan where we work behind closed doors with the FBI…. We provide information; we provide [Intelligence Report] to the Department of Homeland Security, we provide them to anybody—to you, whoever.”
Another kernel of truth: On July 5, 1987, a Miami Herald article on the covert activities of Lt. Col. Oliver North at the National Security Council reported that a “secret contingency plan” had been drafted by FEMA under North’s guidance.
According to the Herald, the plan “called for suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law during a national crisis.”
In Jones’ hands, this true and troublesome history is transformed into regular hyperbolic warnings that martial law is set to be imposed at any moment, with federal agents hunting down patriotic Americans for internment in FEMA-operated concentration camps which have been established clandestinely nationwide.
One recent story Jones and allied media sources point to as definitive proof of the New World Order’s coming clampdown is the attempted “mercenary takeover” of the sleepy town of Hardin, Montana.
On September 10, 2009, the economic development branch of the Hardin government announced that it had signed a 10-year contract with a purported private paramilitary group known as the American Private Police Force (APPF) to operate a vacant private jail on the outskirts of the town.
When APPF personnel arrived in Hardin on September 23, driving black Mercedes SUVs with “City of Hardin Police Department” decals bearing the double-headed eagle crest of Montenegro, wild rumors began to circulate through Internet conspiracy circles that Obama had handpicked the small town for a trial run in martial law and forced H1N1 vaccinations at the hands of foreign mercenaries.
On September 29, Jones interviewed fellow conspiracy journalist Steve Quayle and publicized an anonymous email that a Hardin resident had allegedly sent to Quayle describing a town under siege by machine gun-toting mercenaries. Jones then hopped a plane and commenced live broadcasts from Hardin that spanned the better part of a week in early October.
Less than a week after Jones’ coverage blitz, APPF pulled out amid allegations that the whole scenario was the work of a California conman, Montenegro-born Michael Hilton, out to defraud the town and California-based investors in the venture.
Indeed, details of Hilton’s past fraud convictions, APPF’s lack of history as any sort of defense contractor and other facts casting a dubious light on the legitimacy of the firm had been provided to the local and national press by a watchdog group that monitors private prison development around the county, the Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG), long before Jones’ arrival in Hardin.
According to PCWG field organizer and researcher Frank Smith—who, along with PCWG vice president and Prison Legal News associate editor Alex Friedmann (Prison Legal News, 12/09) and the local AP bureau (10/1/09), had broken the story of Hilton’s shady past—the local media had been so uninterested that the situation rapidly deteriorated into a conspiracy free-for-all. (The main local reporter covering the story, the Billings Gazette’s Becky Shay, subsequently took a job as APPF’s spokesperson.) The resultant information vacuum, says Smith, was ideal fodder for Jones’ vision of the American “red dawn.”
Smith says he is amazed to see that even after the thorough debunking of the whole APPF/Hardin scenario, Jones and other conspiracy theorists still reference the case as proof of a sinister New World Order plot—perhaps most notably with the March 2010 release of Jones’ film Police State 4: The Rise of FEMA, which portrays the Hardin debacle as a small town’s victory over the ever-present menace of the FEMA concentration camp plot.
“The subsequent bullshit that came up, with the vaccines, the gates to the city, the Hardin police force…. The press was so lax that Alex Jones and the Steve Quayles could take the story over,” said Smith. “It was Area 51. It was aliens hidden from us, evidence of flying saucers. If the press had been on their toes, the whole thing would have been over in one day.”
Beau Hodai is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Extra!.
Sidebar:
Selling Doom—but Really Selling Gold
One of the pillars of the reality subscribed to by Alex Jones is that the nation, through the machinations of the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury, is on the brink of a total takeover by the “International Banker’s Cartel.”
In this narrative, American paper money is a “fiat currency” valued and devalued at the whim of the cartel, with the goal of plunging the economy and population into turmoil—necessary steps on the path to enslavement under martial law.
Smart money, Jones declares, is in gold.
Jones’ radio show and Internet productions are distributed through Minnesota-based Genesis Communications Network (GCN), owned by Ted Anderson. Jones’ primary radio and Internet sponsor is Minnesota-based Midas Resources, a precious metals brokerage specializing in gold and silver coins—also owned by Ted Anderson.
In addition to sharing the same owner, Midas and GCN also share the same physical address; in fact, according to Anderson, GCN is essentially the advertising arm of Midas.
Midas Resources was formed in 1996 by Anderson, already a 17-year veteran of the precious metals business, who incorporated GCN the following year. The leap to radio, he says, was a natural progression.
“They actually work hand-in-hand,” said Anderson. “One fits like a glove. They’re partnership-type businesses; Midas Resources needs customers, Genesis Communications Network needs sponsors.”
Jones hosts Anderson on his show regularly to discuss the value of gold—though, says Anderson, the fact that Jones is such an ardent supporter of gold is incidental. According to Anderson, it is fair to characterize his relationship with Jones as symbiotic.
“Midas advertises and was producing programming before Genesis was ever incorporated,” said Anderson. “And then it just became a much better idea to have a talk radio network where show hosts could come and produce the shows.”
With the birth of that idea, Anderson approached Jones and offered him a job with the newly formed GCN: “We were sponsoring his show over at [Austin’s] KJFK [radio]… Then when we opened up the Genesis Communications Network, we invited Alex to do a national show here.”
As for the resultant union, by all appearances the Alex Jones Show has risen to the status of GCNflagship—promoted by GCN almost as heavily as Midas Resources.
“I would say that Alex Jones is more of a variety show that covers politics and is probably heavily into conspiracy,” said Anderson, describing Jones as a leader in his field. “I’d say politics, economics and conspiracy—he really doesn’t stick to one subject. Alex Jones is sort of just Alex Jones.”
–Beau Hodai
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Anderson is the owner of Genesis Communication Network and Midas Resources.
Contents
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- :{1:(style="display:table-cell;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0.5em"):}::{Midas Resources}:
- :{2:(style="display:table-cell;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0.5em"):}::{Resources and articles}:
Midas Resources
"One of the world's premiere precious metals firms, parent company of The Genesis Communications Network, proud sponsor of the Campaign For Liberty and creator of the Ron Paul Air Corps.
"Midas Resources was founded in 1996 by Ted Anderson. Mr. Anderson spent many years as a precious metals broker working for large corporations before striking out on his own. In 1998, he launched the Genesis Communications Network (GCN) to promote the importance of investing in precious metals. In the last few years, both companies have grown, reaching millions of people every day with the message of liberty and security...
"Midas Resources has been a Torch Bearer Supporter of the Campaign For Liberty (C4L) since it's inception. We contribute to organizations that are fighting to bring back sound economic laws and the return of the U.S. dollar to the gold standard. We believe that we have a responsibility to our country and to the future generations to right the wrongs of the past and fight for liberty. Until the day that our great nation's constitution is restored, we will continue to support those organizations that are working hard to see that liberty prevails. We are also a supporter of Young Americans For Liberty (YAL) and many others." [1]
In the past, "Special offer: get a free year of The International Forecaster with the purchase of a gold franc coin from Midas Resources." [1]
Resources and articles
Related Sourcewatch
References
- :{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:↑ Midas Resources About, organizational web page, accessed October 7, 2013.
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nra bs
Universal Coin & Bullion is an online source for gold and silver certified coins and bullion. Owner Mike Fuljenz is a long-time supporter of the National Rifle Association, and is now a member of the NRA Golden Ring of Freedom. He attended the 2016 NRA Annual Meetings in Louisville, Kentucky, his 11th event. He spoke with Cam about the limited-edition 2016 Silver American Eagle Wayne LaPierre Authorized Facsimile Signature coin. For each coin sold, the NRA receives $2 to help in the fight to protect Second Amendment rights. He talks about the three metals of freedom: gold, silver and lead – the lead protects the other two. Originally aired on Cam & Co 06/01/16.
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Weiner targets Beck and gold retailer By: Kenneth P. Vogel May 18, 2010 12:22 PM EST |
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Talk show host Glenn Beck and Goldline International, a California-based gold retailer, have colluded to use fear mongering tactics to bilk investors, according to a stinging report issued Tuesday by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). The report alleges that Goldline grossly overcharges for the gold coins that constitute the bulk of its business, uses misleading sales techniques and takes advantage of fears about President Barack Obama’s stewardship of the economy – which are stoked by its stable of paid conservative endorsers including Beck, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham and Fred Thompson – “to cheat consumers.” Goldline is the exclusive gold sponsor of Beck’s radio show. But, as POLITICO detailed in December, a number of gold selling companies pay other conservative commentators as sponsors and also advertise on a variety of conservative talk radio shows, as well as Fox News, which airs Beck’s television program. “Goldline rips off consumers, uses misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics, and deliberately manipulates public fears of an impending government takeover – this is a trifecta of terrible business practices,” said Weiner. He said a December report in POLITICO report prompted his scrutiny of Goldline. “This industry goes beyond Goldline, but the Goldline circle has been particularly cynical in its cultivation of these conservative commentators,” he said. “There are two industries that are intertwined here in this cynical play: the media industry and the online gold industry, and there is a lot of blame to go around.” As for Beck, Weiner asserted he “should be ashamed of himself.” A member of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Weiner said he plans this week to introduce legislation to require Goldline and other precious metal retailers to fully disclose all their fees, how much the price of gold would need to rise in order for their customers’ investments to yield a profit, and the purchase price, melt value and resale value of the metal that constitutes their products. And he called on the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Federal Trade Commission to investigate “the shady business practices conducted by Goldline International.” Goldline president and CEO Mark Albarian said Weiner is targeting the company because of its relationship with Beck, the popular conservative radio and television talk show host who has drawn rebukes from the White House for his scathing attacks on Obama. “It feels like it’s politically motivated in that neither the Congressman nor anybody from his office ever contacted executives form the company to really ask the important questions that they need to ask to understand this business,” said Albarian, adding Weiner “doesn’t get” the gold retail business. The congressman’s report, Albarian asserted, seems driven by “our relationship with Glenn Beck, which we are very happy with.” On his radio show Tuesday Beck teed off on Weiner, pointing out that his newly hired press secretary until recently worked at Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog that Beck has attacked in the past for its repeated criticisms of his ethics and integrity, including over his gold sponsorships. On Tuesday, Beck accused Weiner of leveling a politically motivated attack on Beck and Goldline at the behest of the Obama administration. “This is incredible. This is incredible,” he said. “This is again another arm of this administration coming out to try to shut me down,” he alleged, calling Weiner and the Obama administration “monsters” and the report a return to the “McCarthy era.” Levin, a rival radio host, in an email to POLITICO blasted Weiner as “a grandstanding leftist” and said of his report “there's nothing here but Weiner's self-serving assertions.” According to the report, Weiner’s office compared the prices of 18 gold coins (half of which were collectible, half of which are still circulating) offered on Goldline’s website with their “melt value” – an assessment based on weight, purity and the price of gold – and found the average Goldline mark-up was 90 percent above the melt value of the coin. Additionally, the report asserts “Those same 18 coins could be found much cheaper on similar precious coin seller’s websites.” Plus, it alleges that Goldline’s salespeople misrepresent themselves as “investment advisers” or “financial advisers” – “implying that they have some sort of fiduciary responsibility to get you the most return on your investment.” Instead, the report contends they “aggressively push the sale of numismatic coins (collector) over bullion (pure gold) because the company has the largest profit margin on them and the sales representatives make the largest commission.” And through its commercials and salespeople, Goldline makes the case for collectible gold coins over more reliable bullion by suggesting that the Obama administration could repeat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1933 gold call-up, which required citizens to turn over gold bullion and other forms of the metal, but exempted “gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins." The report points out that Roosevelt’s executive order – which Goldline features on its website -- did not define “special value” or “collector value.” Nonetheless, the report contends that Goldline and other retailers with assistance from conservative talkers “perpetuate this myth because it makes the selling of high-priced numismatic coins easier.” Conservative talkers whose shows are sponsored by Goldline push the idea “that government is out of control and unsafe, inflation will continue to devalue the dollar and that as an investor you should protect yourself by stock piling gold coins,” the report contends. Beck, who has taken to comparing the state of the U.S. economy to that of modern day Zimbabwe or pre-Hitler Germany, has been urging his devotees to invest in gold, and bragging about his own gold investments, since at least 2008. Last year, for instance, he used one of his trademark blackboard illustrations to provide At times, the dire forecasts about imminent economic collapse offered by Beck and other conservative talkers during their shows are echoed by grave intonations in gold commercials, some of which also feature the very same commentators. Weiner said “people shill for products that are problematic all the time. What’s different here is that so much of the commentary bleeds into the advertising.” And he asserted “it certainly does appear that the zealotry of these conservative commentators is because they’re being paid to advertise.” But Weiner, a liberal who represents New York City, brushed off allegations that his report was politically motivated. “My message is directed at consumers, telling them to beware that the things that Goldline and Glenn Beck are selling are essentially rip-offs,” he said, adding “if these were all liberal commentators who were promoting a company that has a 200-percent mark-up on its gold, I would like to think that I would be just as hard on them.” Other gold retailers that have used conservative commentators to hawk their product include Swiss America (which has boasted as pitchmen 1950s pop star-cum-Christian conservative personality Pat Boone and firebrand talk show host Michael Savage) and Rosland Capital (which has featured endorsements from G. Gordon Liddy and Fox News personalities Bill O’Reilly, Brian Kilmeade and Andrew Napolitano, among others). Albarian said “there are a number of sellers like Goldline, although we think we’re the biggest, but you see their ads everywhere, and nobody else was mentioned” in Weiner’s report. “Why is Goldline the only company mentioned, when we believe that in many ways we have best practices within the business,” said Albarian. He conceded “we do benefit from fears about the economy,” but he asserted his company is set apart from its competitors by its A + rating from the Better Business Bureau, its compliance department and its written account agreements and refund privileges for new clients. “All of our competitors can’t say that,” he said, adding that Goldline also advertises on CNN and on the Internet, and previously had an endorsement deal with the late Jay Johnson, who served as a Democratic member of Congress and was appointed director of the U.S. Mint by President Bill Clinton. “We’re not a political company,” Albarian asserted, adding that if Johnson were still alive “we never would have stopped with Jay. Jay would have been our spokesperson, who was a Democrat. He had a passion for gold. We pick people based on their passion, not their politics.” As for Beck, Albarian said “before we met Glenn, he was a client and we interviewed him about his passion for gold. He really believes in gold and, if anybody knows anything about Glenn, he just says what he believes.” But Michael Smerconish, a Philadelphia-based talk show host who leans slightly right asserted Goldline canceled its advertisements on his syndicated show after about one year because he wasn’t conservative enough. “I think their business depends on a very conservative brand of talk radio and mine isn’t,” Smerconish told POLITICO. |
Anthony Weiner's Revenge
Glenn Beck gloated over ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's fall from grace. But Weiner's work may be finally putting an end to Beck's sleazy gold company sponsor.
By Stephanie Mencimer | Wed Nov. 2, 2011 1:54 PM PDT
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When prosecutors charged executives from the precious metals company Goldline with fraud [1] on Tuesday, it marked an unusual victory for someone who hasn't had many wins lately: former New York congressman Anthony Weiner.
Before he became infamous and ultimately resigned for tweeting photos of his private parts [2] to women he met on the internet, Weiner had earned a reputation as a defender of consumer rights. Among his biggest campaigns was an effort to rein in sleazy gold dealers, from those who were taking advantage of the recession with dubious "cash for gold" deals to shady coin operations like Goldline, who, as Mother Jones reported [3] last year, made millions by peddling their wares on the talk shows of right-wing hosts like Glenn Beck.
In May of last year, Weiner released a report highlighting many of the issues that ultimately ended up being part of the prosecutors' charges Tuesday. His outspoken criticism of the company sparked a very public feud with Beck, who refused to distance himself from Goldline, which had been one of his most loyal sponsors. Beck asked his listeners to send in doctored photos [4] of Weiner showing the congressman with "his nose as a wiener." He said he welcomed any "Weiner facts" or photos of the congressman "in front of the wienermobile in front of his house, with his wiener dog, with his little wiener children." Beck set up a website called weinerfacts.com just to post all the photos.
The day after Weiner resigned, Beck gloated about his nemesis' downfall in a lengthy on-air rant [5], saying, "We're going to have to do without, without one of the most unlikable figures in American political history. Remember, there is a guy who was capable of being completely unlikable. Even when he was arguing for healthcare, for 9/11 responders, he was unlikable…He could say anything, look and sound the exact same way. It didn’t matter if he was lying about Goldline or health care or his own wiener shots."
And Beck continued to defend Goldline, claiming that his personal investment in the company was up 40 percent, even as Weiner's stock had crashed. "At the exact same time [Weiner] was flexing naked in the congressional mirror and sending pictures to girls half his age, he was trying to destroy my business and the business of my clients with lies, half truths, and smears…I don't feel bad for him. He did this to himself."
Fast forward a year, and now Beck, like Weiner, has disappeared from the limelight after getting kicked off Fox News [6]. And it looks like Beck's favorite gold executives, some of whom regularly appeared on his show with him, could be facing some jail time for doing exactly what Weiner said they were doing.
It's a bittersweet ending for Weiner, of course. He declined to comment, but Yuri Beckelman, a former staffer who worked on the Goldline investigation and wrote the report for Weiner, says that he's not surprised to see the charges filed against Goldline. "It's a business model built on a scam," he explains. "Those defending them or hawking their products on the radio or television are complicit. Someone jokingly suggested to me that if they're taking investment advice from Glenn Beck it's their own fault. I couldn't disagree more. This is about ordinary Americans having their life savings devastated by con men who haven't let up just because we're in a recession."
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Source URL: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/11/anthony-weiner-glenn-beck-gold
Links:
[1] http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/11/glenn-becks-favorite-gold-company-charged-fraud
[2] http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/06/weiner-abandoned-left-dead
[3] http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/05/glenn-beck-goldline-weiner
[4] http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/beck-asks-listeners-weiner-nose-photos-ny-congressman
[5] http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/06/17/anthony-weiner-even-worse-than-portrayed/
[6] http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/why-fox-dumped-glenn-beck