Victims of fraud perpetrated by Metals.com are being urged to file a claim with a court appointed receiver and begin the process of recovering their defrauded funds. Last September, 29 attorneys general and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), filed a lawsuit against Metals.com for defrauding seniors across the nation.
Metal.com is accused of soliciting more than $185 million by peddling false claims and by charging exorbitant fees for overpriced precious metals. Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered an injunction and a restraining order , freezing the assets of the defendants and appointing a receiver to marshal the defendants’ remaining assets and issue relief to defrauded clients.
The lawsuit charges the Beverly Hills, California-based firm and its sales representatives with targeting elderly investors through traditional and social media and defrauding them into transferring funds from their traditional individual retirement accounts (IRA) into self-directed IRAs by misrepresenting that metals purchased from the defendants were a safe and conservative investment. In reality, however, the defendants charged undisclosed and excessive fees on precious metals sold to investors that resulted in instant and substantial losses, with many investors losing the majority of their investment funds immediately upon consummating the transaction. Often, the market value of the precious metals sold to investors was substantially lower than the value of the securities and other retirement savings investors had liquidated to fund their purchase of precious metals. The complaint charges the defendants with violating the Commodity Exchange Act and various state securities laws.
Following the court order earlier this month, the receiver began administering the claims process. As part of the process, the receiver will be sending correspondence, instructions, and a claim form to defrauded clients. Defrauded clients must complete and return their claims forms to the receiver to participate in the claims process and request a return of the remaining, available money. The deadline to return the claim form is April 30, 2021 .