The judgment also requires the company to give up one of the staples of its marketing tactics, and one that was hyped routinely by Beck: the idea that the government’s coming for your gold. The company must refund up to $4.5 million to defrauded customers, and pay $800,000 into a fund for future claims. On Wednesday, the Santa Monica city attorney obtained a judgment and injunction against Goldline that requires the company to radically overhaul its practices and to stop deceiving customers about prices, among other things. Beck went on the defensive, attacking Weiner and defending his favorite gold dealer. The former New York congressman Anthony Weiner helped bring national attention to the company’s business practices. Mother Jones documented this scam in a 2010 story about the company and its relationship with Beck. Beck parted ways with Fox in June, and in November prosecutors in Santa Monica charged six of Goldline’s executives with fraud and accused the company of running a bait-and-switch operation that lured customers into buying overpriced antique coins as investments-coins that Beck promoted on his shows. Since Beck’s Fox News heyday, his fortunes and Goldline’s have fallen sharply. Beck, for his part, lavishly praised the company, telling listeners and viewers that he personally bought gold from the company and calling its executives “people I trust.” Goldline stuck with Beck even after most of his other advertisers fled in light of the host’s increasingly inflammatory rhetoric. For years, the Santa Monica-based precious metals company, Goldline International, has helped keep the conservative talk show host on the air by sponsoring his radio show and now-defunct Fox News show. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Īs Glenn Beck goes, so goes his favorite gold company.
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