International Gold Bullion Exchange

Last updated

International Gold Bullion Exchange was a gold bullion dealer that committed major fraud during the early 1980s.

International Gold Bullion Exchange was founded in 1979 by brothers William and James Alderdice. It grew to be reportedly the largest retail gold bullion dealer in the United States. [1] It offered sale and storage of gold and silver bullion and coins. The company would sell gold bullion at a discount if the buyer agreed to postpone taking delivery. It was headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with offices in Los Angeles and Dallas and employed over 1000 people. The company advertised in national publications like the Wall Street Journal and Barron's.

The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 1983 and then ceased operating. When the company's offices were raided by law enforcement, it turned out that the gold bar stacks shown in their advertising were only wooden blocks painted a gold color. While it operated the company collected over $140 million. At the time it shut down, there were $75 million in claims by 23,000 people. The company spent over $44 million on personal spending, salaries, marketing and travel and had little in assets when it shut down.

During the summer of 1983, the Alderdice brothers were Indicted in New York state on charges of grand larceny and securities fraud, indicted in Broward County, Florida on 203 counts of fraud and theft, and indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. They were arrested in July 1983 and spent eight months in jail before being able to raise bail. [2] In July 1984 while free on bond, William Alderdice was murdered by James Doyle, a former cell-mate who served as the brothers' chauffeur. [3] In 1985, James Alderdice received a sentence of ten years in federal prison. [4] He had also been convicted in New York state and Broward County, but was allowed to serve those sentences concurrent with the federal sentence. [5]

International Gold Bullion Exchange was one of two major frauds involving sale of gold bullion in 1983, with Bullion Reserve of North America in Los Angeles also being shut down later that year, with losses to customers of $60 million. [6] These frauds came at a time when gold prices had soared and gold as an investment was popular.

Related Research Articles

e-gold Digital gold currency

e-gold was a digital gold currency operated by Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. (G&SR) that allowed users to make payments, which it called "spends", in grams of gold, silver, and other precious metals. e-gold was launched in 1996 and grew to five million accounts by 2009, when transfers were suspended due to legal issues. At its peak in 2006, e-gold processed more than US$2 billion worth of spends per year, backed by over US$85 million worth of gold, about 3.8 tonnes (8,400 lb). e-gold Ltd. was incorporated in Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and its operations were based in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Vario</span> American mobster (1914-1988)

Paul Vario was an American mobster and made man in the Lucchese crime family. Vario was a caporegime and had his own crew of mobsters in Brooklyn, New York. Following the testimony of Henry Hill, Vario was convicted in 1984, of fraud, and sentenced to four years in prison, followed by a conviction for extortion in 1985, and an additional sentence of 10 years in prison. He died on May 3, 1988, of respiratory failure in prison.

Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was an entrepreneur, land developer, casino operator, and restaurateur of Greek descent, who was murdered in 2001. The murder has been alleged to be in connection with the sale of his company, SunCruz Casinos.

John "Peanuts" Tronolone was an American mobster who succeeded crime boss James Licavoli as head of the Cleveland crime family. He was initially affiliated with a faction of the Buffalo crime family which was absorbed by the Cleveland family. After serving as consigliere and acting boss, Tronolone ran the Cleveland family from 1985 until his death in 1991 following the Licavoli-Nardi gang wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Jenne</span> American politician

Kenneth C. Jenne II is a former Democratic member of the Florida State Senate and a former sheriff of Broward County, which encompasses Fort Lauderdale. He resigned as sheriff in September 2007, after having pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and mail fraud. On November 16, 2007, he was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.

Michael McKay is a convicted racketeer and former labor leader from the United States. He was president of American Maritime Officers (AMO) from 1993 until his conviction in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Trucchio</span> American mobster

Ronald Joseph Trucchio, also known as "Ronnie One Arm" is an American mobster who rose to the position of caporegime in the Gambino crime family of New York City.

Lawrence B. "Larry" Salander is a former New York City art dealer and artist. His company, the Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, was cited by the Robb Report in 2003 as the best gallery in the world. By late 2007, Salander had been sued by numerous customers and business partners who claimed that Salander and his company had defrauded them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Gonzalez</span> American computer hacker and criminal

Albert Gonzalez is an American computer hacker, computer criminal and police informer, who is accused of masterminding the combined credit card theft and subsequent reselling of more than 170 million card and ATM numbers from 2005 to 2007, the biggest such fraud in history. Gonzalez and his accomplices used SQL injection to deploy backdoors on several corporate systems in order to launch packet sniffing attacks which allowed him to steal computer data from internal corporate networks.

Scott W. Rothstein is an American disbarred lawyer, convicted felon, and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He funded an extravagant lifestyle with a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest such in history.

Rose Marks is the American matriarch of a family of fraudulent psychics convicted of federal crimes in 2013 in Florida. Marks and members of her extended family operated multiple storefront businesses, four in Broward County, Florida one of which was in Fort Lauderdale, named "Astrology Life" and one in Manhattan on W. 58th Street near Central Park. They told vulnerable clients that the only solution to their problems was to give the purported psychics money. Prior to this case there was doubt that a psychic could be criminally charged. Jurors were told that fortune-telling is constitutionally protected free speech, but federal prosecutors contended Marks engaged in fraud by promising to keep clients' money safe, "cleanse" it and return it when she had no intention of returning it. The case drew widespread coverage. Charles Stack, a retired Fort Lauderdale police detective, said the case and the ensuing publicity brought attention to predatory and fraudulent fortune tellers.

ESM Government Securities, Inc. was a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based government securities dealer, specializing in repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements. The failure of the company in March 1985 precipitated the collapse of Home State Savings Bank, deposit runs on dozens of other banks in Ohio, and the downfall of the private Ohio Deposit Guarantee Fund.

Clifford Dixon Noe (1930–2004) was an international conman and swindler. He specialized in using bogus companies, forged securities, and fictitious offshore accounts to swindle investors. He was included by Fortune magazine on its 1988 list of the 25 most fascinating business people. The magazine said that the FBI ranked Noe as "among the most notorious white-collar criminals ever." He was described by a sentencing judge in England as "an international swindler on the highest level."

Lloyd, Carr & Company was a Boston based commodities options brokerage firm. It was put in receivership in January 1978 after major fraud was discovered.

Mutual Benefits Corporation was a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida based investment sales company that operated a huge ponzi scheme selling viatical settlements, with investors losing an estimated $835 million. The principal ring leader of the scam was Joel Steinger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Paul George</span> American convicted drug dealer (b. 1980)

Christopher Paul George, called Chris George is an American drug dealer and convicted felon. Together with his twin brother Jeffrey Frank George and other parties involved, he ran several pill mills in Florida, which contributed to the opioid epidemic in the USA. George was sentenced to 17.5 years imprisonment in 2012 for these and other crimes. The media called him Pill Mill Kingpin, because he was the owner of the largest network of such clinics in Florida between February 2008 and March 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvin L. Warner</span> American diplomat (1919–2002)

Marvin Leon Warner was the United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 1977 until 1979 and the owner of the Birmingham Stallions. He was the owner of Home State Savings Bank, breeder of thoroughbred horses, part owner of the New York Yankees from 1973 until 1975 as well as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Edward P. Wolfram Jr. or Ted Wolfram Jr. was the managing partner of the American brokerage company Bell & Beckwith. He was a convicted felon and, later, a public speaker. Wolfram was incarcerated for violating Federal securities law after defrauding his company, causing the closure of the 85-year-old Toledo firm. At the time of his sentencing, his conviction was considered an uncommonly long sentence for a securities fraud case.

References

  1. ↑ Abrams Announces Arrest Of Florida Gold Dealers - News From Attorney General Robert Abrams July 14, 1983
  2. ↑ The gold bullion brothers, William and James Alderdice, were... UPI Archives April 5, 1984
  3. ↑ Florida Man Named In Gold Fraud Case Is Stabbed To Death New York Times July 16, 1984
  4. ↑ Alderdice Starts His Sentence In Prison Sun-Sentinel June 4, 1985
  5. ↑ Igbe Fraud Gets Alderdice 10-year Federal Prison Term Sun-Sentinel April 13, 1985
  6. ↑ Audit After Gold Dealer's Suicide Suggests Customers Lost Millions New York Times October 5, 1983
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.