Whistleblower Exposes The Billion Dollar Gold Scam Industry...

An interviewee mentioned Goldline, a precious metals dealer, as an example of a company that was sued and paid fines related to fraud but never admitted wrongdoing, and whose employees later joined other fraudulent dealers.

“basically there was a company called Goldline which basically did the same thing that Augusta did and they were sued they and they they never admitted to any wrongdoing but they paid a bunch of fines to get that lawsuit taken down”

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.

“if you were to buy a coin from Augusta or another company that's doing this and you would to buy that coin and you would to just buy it at whatever they're trying to sell it to you at and you would to take that to your local coin dealer and you could do this with every coin dealer and go in and say what would you pay for this coin they would probably give you the melt value or 2% less than melt because they don't know what that coin is they have no secondary market for it they're just going to take that coin and melt it down they're going to put it in their M melt pile with everything else”

Precious metals dealers like Apmex allow customers to publicly see prices online, whereas scam dealers like Augusta use 'call for pricing' gates specifically to trigger high-pressure sales calls where customers are psychologically committed before learning the actual price.

“anytime you you let's say you're typing in hey into Google um buy gold right um first thing you do skip all the ads all the ones that say add add add add add Skip all of those go down um and just look at all of the legitimate companies and start going through and if you happen upon a website that says call for pricing or they have terminology like premium coins or exclusive coins or you know anything with that stay away close the Box put them on your Blacklist don't touch them because those are the companies that in all likelihood are the ones that are going to um put your money into a bad investment and they're going to sell you hard on something you don't okay well hopefully with uh this video hopefully we can get people in Congress to at least look into the company”

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.

“so it's you know it's a little frustrating but again this is this leans back to the Cockroach analogy you had earlier you shut down one or maybe there's a dispute within the a company and then what happens is a Salesman just goes and starts their own company starts doing the same thing fortunately um fortunately um there were some government employees in that red rock secured case”

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.

“the cftc closed my uh case and said they didn't have jurisdiction so fast forward that was in 20 late 2019 fast Florida 2023 um shade his name is shade Kelly he had started a company called Red Rock secured operating ex exactly the same way as Augusta did um and the cftc and the SEC filed joint suit against him for $60 million”

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.

“the math shakes out that if you were to buy the premium coins that they sell you the the assets that they sell you they tell you the greatest assets um on the on the earth um the market would have to move uh would have to increase 45% in order for you to just break even”

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.

“so what he did is in order to make sure that the salesman were not saying things that could get Augusta in trouble he hired his sister to monitor all the calls and then when there were calls that came up he would reprimand the salesman and then they would wipe the calls”

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.

“so they don't they give they give free coins away so what they do is hey thanks for tra and it's like immediately after you're trade right so you're pumped you just invested this money y y y and they say and then you get a call hey um this is you know so and so from the admin office would you mind doing a review for us and we'll send you a free coin outside of your IRA”

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.

“there was a gentleman whose wife had had invested her money into the coins at Augusta um and about four months went by I who knows what happened he he found out um he started looking into it he's a very intelligent guy um and he called back and said you're going to refund my wife every every dollar um he went as far because this is what what they do that no no no we have all these agreements here's the agreements blah blah blah blah blah so this guy went as far as contacting his local um congressman's office his State Attorney General”

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.

“I flew to on their dime they flew me to Florida um and they put me up in a hotel U my attorneys are based out of Florida that's why we did Florida and they're based out of DC so it kind of worked um I did the entire it was like a day yeah I think it was a full day of recording in um in a hotel we we did a bunch of b-roll shots I mean just the whole nine”

Salespeople at Augusta typically have substance abuse issues (alcohol, gambling) or maintain lavish lifestyles that require constant high commissions to sustain, creating a financial incentive structure that drives predatory sales tactics.

“the guys at medals.com that were running that um let's just say that their Lifestyles were not great um which is very typical for most of the salespeople they're usually have alcohol issues or um they um have uh let's uh they have lavish Lifestyles and they need to maintain those Lifestyles gambling habits things like that not all of them so I don't want to blank it but there's it's quite prevalent”

Isaac's sister was hired to monitor all sales calls at Augusta; when she identified calls in which salesmen said things that could expose the company to legal liability (based on lessons from the Goldline and Merit Financial lawsuits), she would report the calls to Isaac, who would reprimand the salesman and then delete the recorded call.

“so what he did is in order to make sure that the salesman were not saying things that could get Augusta in trouble he hired his sister to monitor all the calls and then when there were calls that came up he would reprimand the salesman and then they would wipe the calls so he'd say hey and and he even used them in training sessions like hey this is what you don't do right so he'd get the salesman together Hey listen to this this is what EXs salesman did you don't do this like this is like you're just asking for a lawsuit”

The host initially understood Augusta as offering coins with exclusive designs or provenance, but Whitaker clarifies that the 'exclusive' label is simply marketing to justify markups; the coins are minted by official state mints (Canadian Mint, African Mint) but are identical to non-exclusive versions except for branding.

“they have these exclusive coins that they have minted uh I believe you told me from Canada as well as other other mints around the world like the official Canadian Mint will mint them these special coins and then they will sell these to people at insane markups uh that is is well above what what you can actually get from this why people don't see a return on these products”

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.

“what the buyer doesn't know is that in those contracts um Augusta retains the exclusive control over the coin so at any time they can increase or decrease that spread which is where you go from having a 29% spread to a 30 40 50% spread”

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.

“Isaac called me one day and asked me to increase the spread so from 29% to like 50% because there was a gentleman who wanted to sell 5,000 silver coins of our exclusive silver coins back to us so by increasing the spread we decrease the amount we have to pay that individual”

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.

“I have spent and I will continue to spend my time with any person that will speak to me about it that will give me the time of day and I will and I'll do it for free I'll fly myself to DC to talk to Congress”

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.

“there was a Washington Post article that got um front page um it was a front page column that pointed to a two-page spread um in the Washington Post that got very good traction online as well actually um I think that might have piqued some interest in Congress I hope”

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

“so all of these companies that are doing the same thing um they they their marketing model is 50 plus Conservative Christian that's what they're looking for”

Dale Whitaker sent emails to Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, and their agents warning them about the gold company fraud and the harm being done to their audiences, but received no response or engagement.

“so I even went to Jordan Peterson's um to Jordan Peterson's Reddit and I posted in his Reddit thing and I posted a whole thing in there it got a couple of thousand views um and you know so like I've done every I've emailed all the people at Fox through the Fox News forums”

Dale filed a complaint with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in January 2018 or early 2019 on behalf of Augusta's victims, backed by attorneys who took his case pro bono after a three-month independent investigation.

“my attorneys surely felt strong enough that they were willing to take me on as a client after doing their independent investigation which took about three months they they took all of the information I provided to them they did their they have their own in-house um team that going say hey is it is this stuff true is what he's saying true um and then they came back and said okay we'll take you on as a client”

Dale's motivation for exposing the fraud is moral: he is driven by anger at the exploitation of senior citizens' retirement savings and by a belief that relationships and doing good are more important than personal financial gain.

“you know what this isn't right people are being truly harmed cuz we're not talking about like you buying a car right like we're not talking about that what we're talking about is this is people's retirement money they've worked their entire lives for right that's one big piece of the puzzle that just really pisses me off this is people who have put this money in their IRAs and these take it”

The Royal Canadian Mint (and other state-sponsored mints) mint exclusive premium coins for Augusta and similar companies because they earn higher revenue per coin than selling coins to the general public, despite receiving emails warning them of the fraud.

“that's a great question I actually sent all of the executives of the RCM in 20 I believe late 2019 maybe early 202 20 I sent them all an email um to with a letter um informing them of what was happening and asking them to to quit engaging in these contracts”

If someone wants to buy gold as a hedge against inflation, they should prioritize paying the lowest premium (percentage over spot price) rather than buying 'fancy' or 'exclusive' coins, and should sell the coins back to the same dealer rather than expect a secondary market.

“check your motive as to why you're buying gold in the first place that's the first thing you got to do right like just check what's your motive if your motive is to hedge against inflation and to to have a stable investment okay that's fine so then what do you need to do well you don't need a fancy coin to do that what you need is to pay the least amount of Premium that's dollars over the spot price is possible so you don't have to have a gold American eagle or a silver American Eagle you just need an IRA approved coin that's 49 fine or more”

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.

“Merit Financial so uh Merit Financial were sued by the assistant district attorney in Los Angeles County um and I think the I believe the lawsuit was like $200 million or something like that um and all the employees showed up to work one day and uh there was just a notice on the door hey we're closed”

To counter Whitaker's morality-based objection to retroactive spread increases, Isaac argued that he would be 'losing dollars' by honoring the original spread terms; Whitaker corrected this by demonstrating that Augusta would still profit approximately $2,500 and that the company would not lose dollars, only margin (profit per coin), which is a matter of greed rather than financial necessity.

“so this is the entire argument is he was saying we're losing dollars and we actually wouldn't we would have still made about $2,500 even after we paid commission to the guys if we'd have just bought them back at the spread and then resold them”

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.

“and then finally I got put in contact with um with a congress man's office um who um they're and they're like yeah we want to do something about this we you know we see this as being an issue and and we want to do something do you know the congressman's name yeah David kustoff okay do you know where he's he's from like what district or anything yeah he's in Tennessee so Tennessee district 8 it looks like yeah”

NPR showed interest in Dale's story but declined to air it, saying the producers 'don't feel like it's something that they could iterate properly and succinctly over the air,' despite working with journalist Carrie Lynn who believed the story was compelling.

“I worked with a journalist in 2019 um uh her name is Carrie Lynn and she actually helped me quite a bit Making Connections um we actually did it wasn't very fruitful and she didn't charge me anything thing um it was like a Consulting thing that I had picked her up to do um and she had made all these connections for me and NPR was looking real good and NPR was just like you know it's a it's a very interesting story we like it um but I don't know or the whoever it was that she spoke to said the producers don't feel like it's something that they could iterate properly and succinctly over um over the air basically”

Joe Montana has been a sponsor for Augusta Precious Metals for several years, appearing in golf commercials to target the 50+ male demographic.

“so you're aware that Joe Montana is a sponsor for them as well yeah he has been for a few years yeah yeah um again you know you see Joe Montana like on what golf commercials and things like that so that's his target market 50 plus conservatives um you know out playing around at golf like the people that they're marketing to know who Joe man Montana is right like they they know that guy right so it's part of their childhood or like they grew up while he was in the NFL”

Whitaker's primary role at Augusta was Chief Financial Officer; he handled all financial trading, buying, selling, bookkeeping, and worked with CPAs on tax filings and depreciation determinations; he also built a proprietary CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that integrated with the existing CRM to help traders quickly close sales by having all customer information readily available.

“so I actually did quite a lot of things um but my my main role was as the Chief Financial Officer did all of the trading um I did all of the buying the selling um all the financial work um minus the tax returns it's the only thing I didn't do um so I did all the bookkeeping send it you know worked with the CPAs um on getting the filings done in terms of what we would depreciate don't depreciate etc etc etc um but you know end to-end accounting trading um the whole nine um and then alongside that I also helped him build an in uh a proprietary uh CR M that integrated with their their other CRM”

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.

“his words were the assistant DA has a hardon for precious metals companies so we need to get out of his jurisdiction look for offices in Culver City and that da was that the da that took down Merit Financial”

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.

“I just took the exact complaint I didn't change anything I just sent it to the attorneys General's office with a like a just like a cover letter saying this is the complaint I filed I will give you 15 gigabytes of data that will prove everything that I'm saying to you please do something please do something and um got a response very quickly which was crazy um so this is in 2019 like July August um they sent me a link I sent them all of the data um you know I I've got I've got a letter here somewhere kicking about that like they acknowledged receipt of everything and so on um and then of course Co hit so nothing nothing happened”