Representative David Kustoff (Tennessee, District 8) has shown interest in investigating the gold dealer fraud and is willing to work with Dale on potential congressional action.

The precious metals fraud industry operates as a 'cockroach' system: when one company is shut down (like Merit Financial), the employees and operators simply start new companies with new names but identical practices; thus shutting down one company does not eliminate the fraud, because the operators immediately relocate and restart.

The CFTC closed Dale's complaint against Augusta in late 2019, claiming it lacked jurisdiction, yet in May 2023 the CFTC and SEC jointly sued Red Rock Secured (founded by an Augusta vice president) for $60 million for operating identically to Augusta, despite the earlier complaint having been filed years before Red Rock even existed.

Augusta Precious Metals sells gold and silver coins at markups of 150-200%, meaning the gold or silver market would have to move 45% just for customers to break even on their investment, compared to legitimate dealers charging 3-5% markups.

Augusta Precious Metals systematically deletes all sales call recordings where salesmen use questionable tactics or make misleading statements, while retaining only the final confirmation call and purchase agreement to prevent discovery of fraudulent sales practices.

When a customer wanted to sell 5,000 silver coins back to Augusta at the agreed 29% spread, CEO Isaac instructed Dale to increase the spread to 50% to reduce the buy-back price, which Dale refused to do, sparking his investigation into the company's practices.

Augusta Precious Metals uses fake positive reviews to inflate its reputation: the company gives free coins to customers who leave positive reviews on Trustpilot and removes negative reviews by offering victims additional precious metals valued at their stated price but worth much less at actual market value, contingent on signing NDAs.

A person who took coins from Augusta to a local coin dealer received only the melt value (or 2% less) because coin dealers have no secondary market for Augusta's exclusive coins and must melt them down, destroying any supposed premium or exclusivity value.

Augusta Precious Metals retains exclusive control over coins sold to customers, allowing the company to unilaterally increase or decrease the buy-back spread after sale, effectively changing the terms of the transaction retroactively.

Augusta Precious Metals' CEO Isaac instructed Dale Whitaker to establish company offices outside the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney who was investigating Merit Financial, specifically in Culver City, to evade regulatory scrutiny.

Merit Financial, a precious metals company that was sued by the Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney and shut down, was the predecessor to Augusta Precious Metals; CEO Isaac was Merit's top salesman and many of Merit's employees and customer list migrated directly to Augusta after the company closed.

Augusta Precious Metals does not require upfront capital to operate because it uses a drop-shipping model where customers pay first, then the company buys from distributors who ship directly to customers, allowing the company to retain the markup without holding inventory.

A woman invested retirement money in Augusta coins; her husband discovered the fraud, contacted his congressman's office, the state attorney general, and threatened legal action, upon which Augusta offered a full refund contingent on signing an NDA that prevented him from disclosing the company's practices.

Nightline recorded a full day of interviews with Dale Whitaker, flew him to Florida, interviewed victims and their homes, and went to Los Angeles to confront CEO Isaac at Augusta's offices, but then killed the story after the producer received a promotion and the journalist was moved to the White House beat.

Augusta Precious Metals sent Dale Whitaker a cease-and-desist letter while he was vacationing in the UK, and when he ignored it, sent a follow-up letter claiming his silence constituted an admission of guilt.

After Red Rock Secured was sued by the CFTC and SEC, Dale learned that the same operators are launching a new company under a different name with a different address in Spokane, Washington, planning to transfer Red Rock's customer leads to the new entity to continue the fraud.

Dale Whitaker spent 1.5-2.5 years pursuing media coverage and regulatory action, spending thousands of his own dollars, with his income dropping from $150,000-$180,000 per year to near zero, in an effort to expose the fraud and get Augusta investigated.

Dale filed a complaint with the California Attorney General in 2019, providing 15 gigabytes of data, received acknowledgment of receipt, but then COVID-19 hit and nothing was done.

A Washington Post front-page column with a two-page spread about the gold dealer fraud recently generated online traction and may have piqued congressional interest in investigating the companies.

These fraudulent precious metals companies specifically target conservative, Christian elderly people (50+ demographic) as their core marketing segment.