Glenn Beck’s Favorite Gold Co. Must Refund $4.5 Million

Lindsay Beyerstein

Goldline International, Glenn Beck’s corporate BFF and longtime sponsor, has been ordered by a Santa Monica court to refund $4.5 million to customers, set aside an additional $800,000 for future claims, and stop #$@ telling the rubes that the government’s coming for their gold:

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.”

Those were the golden days. Since Beck’s Fox News heyday, his fortunes and Goldline’s have fallen sharply. 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. Mother Jones documented this scam in a 2010 story about the company and its relationship with Beck. The former New York congressman Anthony Weiner helped bring national attention to the company’s business practices. Beck went on the defensive, attacking Weiner and defending his favorite gold dealer. [Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones]

Justice is served.

The video is a sketch called Dosh for Gold,” from the BBC series That Mitchell and Webb Look.

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Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://​www​.hill​man​foun​da​tion​.org/​h​i​l​l​m​a​nblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.
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