Back in May, we posted an investigation into Glenn Beck’s favorite gold company, Goldline International. The story documented how the company routinely scares people into buying overpriced gold coins—in fact, the firm had been sanctioned in Missouri for encouraging an elderly woman to liquidate some of her retirement investments to buy its overpriced products. Because Goldline isn’t a licensed investment firm, and its salespeople aren’t licensed investment advisors, they can’t legally recommend that customers buy or sell securities.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) released his own report that month that made similar findings and called on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Goldline’s practices. Well, apparently even a congressional investigation wasn’t enough to get the company to clean up its act. In its new August issue, Consumer Reports Money Advisor reports that Goldline is still dispensing what sounds an awful lot like investment advice. The story is not online, but the magazine writes:
“We were also concerned about advice we got from a company rep. Some financial experts recommend keeping about 5 percent of a portfolio in gold as an inflation hedge; a Goldline rep suggested we go as high as 20 percent. To raise the money, he suggested we liquidate IRAs or old 401(k)s.”
