JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument

I haven’t posted here for a while as malware removal and link repairs have used up time.

But after a very enjoyable month as Santa Jay,  it’s time to start again.

Lots has happened in the world, my life and yours that I could have commented on.

But after dreaming about this topic, I awoke several nights ago thinking about my experience with gold and silver investing.

Several years ago, I bought some silver coins.  When I got the coins that cost more than spot price, I became the recipient of two years of the company’s newsletter.   Well after several years when the price was up and I needed some cash, I thought to sell the coins.

The local coin shop wouldn’t pay spot price but only about a third of it, so the could make their big profit.

So I sold them back to the people I’d bought them from.    They paid spot price, less two more years of their newsletter, which I didn’t want.    But they had the cons, so what could I do?

A great investment but not so great when selling.

Then I got gold and silver options with a firm that you could “buy, sell, or trade at any time” or so they said each time I called.

I was going to sell out the silver options when the price hit $20 an ounce.

For a while as the prices rose, I received monthly earned income off of those options.  Then one day my broker wasn’t there anymore but at another firm.

I was assigned a new guy to work with.  he seemed very interested in my investment.   One day he called and said I might have to sell or lose money when the prices went down.  A while later, he called back and said it was a false alarm but that he’d watch it carefully.

If the price went down by Friday, I should sell, so call him on Friday.

Friday I called from my home in the Mountain Time zone.   The firm was in the Eastern Time zone.

I called, again hearing that I could buy, sell, or trade at any time.  My broker was at lunch and he never came back the rest of the day.  I called several times before 4 pm ET.  He wasn’t back yet i was told.  Could I sell like we’d planned?  No, I had to work with him I was told.

So much for buy, sell, or trad at any time.

The following Monday the price fell and I’d lose it all unless I bought the difference.

I foolishly did.

But the prices rose and I could make it all back, my original investment and the makeup investment.

I waited until the price was $22 per oz.

But then could not sell as the firm had been shut down by the Feds.

The owner of the firm had been caught driving home one day with $29 million in gold bullion in his car.

That wasn’t all, for months he’d been going to their bank and in two withdrawals daily, taking out several thousand dollars at a time, which when combined equaled more that $10 grand a day.  The feds had established that when $10 grand or more a day was withdrawn form someone’s account, the federal government was to be informed so as to check on preventing some illegal action.  Be cause he took less that that out with each withdrawal, even though the daily total was more than $10 grand, the bank didn’t think anything of it.

Over time the owner had embezzled  all the funds of the company and all invested funds as they came in.   That’s why the broker who paid me dividends was let go and why I couldn’t sell that Friday, and why the broker working with me was told to go home and not come back that day.  There were no funds to pay out with.  The owner had them all.

Well, he was caught and given 12 years in prison with furloughs for certain reasons, health, family needs etc. And ordered by the courts to pay back $19 million to investors.

There was no money, so the feds sold all the assets of the company even down to the office furniture.

A law firm  came to represent the victimized investors.   They got judgments against all senior officers of the company.

A judgement is of no value unless  a property or something is sold to satisfy the judgement.  But the court can’t sell ones’s house to get this judgement paid, so these were practically worthless to the investors.

Even firm consultants had judgments brought against them amounting to their full consulting fees.  One such consultant was in legal trouble for some shady investment dealings he done and in order to stay out of prison before the trial, his family posted a bail bond of $200,000. I don’t know the result of his trial, but that amount was more than the consulting fee he’d received form the gold and silver firm I was involved with. How could he pay the Judgement when the court has 200 grand of his family’s money?

The bank involved was bought out by a larger banking group so the lawyers went after them and an agreement was made that the bank owed 1.3 million dollars to satisfy their error as the new bank owner  they’d assumed all parts of the smaller bank with it’s purchase, even their debts and mistakes.

That would be a nice amount, however the judge awarded the lawyers for the victims hourly wages and the lawyers for the bank hourly wages. Who ever heard of the losing lawyers getting paid?  That left very littler for the investors.

One man from Atlanta, Ga., who I spoke to on the phone, had invested $140 grand, one man $538 grand, I only lost 21,400 (after what I did receive earlier form them).

After pocketing nearly 3/4 of a million from the deal, the lawyers for the victims made the handsome sum of one cent on the dollar pay out to the victims.  I got $214.  The man who invested $538 grand got 1 cent on the dollar too.  Between the time of the collapse of the company and the settlement, he had died, thus his heirs pay out wouldn’t even have paid for his funeral.

Who got all the money?

The company owner, who never paid a cent back, the Attorneys for the victims, other attorneys and the courts.

You know if people believed the Biblical command “Thou Shalt Not Steal” no investor would have lost money.

 

Comments Off on December 2021

11/17/2019

Seldom do people read what I write or listen to what I say,
but I feel I must write and talk about this.

A few years ago, I thought I should inverst in gold and silver.
Not having much in the way of funds, I choose to buy on options.
I infested in a company that seemed reputable.
Things went well and I started getting checks every month or so on earnings.
Then my broker was no longer with the company.
The new guy seemed very concerned that I not lose money, telling me when to sell
before the market dropped.
The company motto being “Buy, Sell, or Trade at any time.”
One Monday he called, “May need to sell”.
The next day, he called, “Don’t need to sell. Check on Friday.”
On Friday I called. He was at lunch not to return that day.
On Monday the market fell and I lost all unless I put in more money.
I did. Shortly after that, the owner of the firm was caught with his car trunk full
of gold bullion leaving the firm. He had priviosly withdrawn large sums from the
local Wachovia Bank on a daily basis over several months time. During that time,
he kept informing his reps to sell more.
It was learned he had stolen $29 million from the firm and investors.
He was caught, tried, sentenced to 12 years in a gentleman’s prison, replete
with a furlough system, and ordered to pay back $19 million to investors.
A law firm for the victims started the process of liquidating all holdings of the
company, obtaining judgement against every principle broker and advisor of the
company and any other means possible to raise the $19 million plus their fee.
What had this guy done with all the money?
Wachovia Bank was bought out by Wells Fargo, so they even went after Wells
Fargo for $3 million for allowing the improper withdrawing of monies by the owner
of the investment firm.
After liquidating every property, even the office furniture, the Wells Fargo money
was needed for investors to get paid back.
I was only out $21,400, but spoke to an Atlanta investor who was out $140,000.
One man even had lost $538,000.
Wells Fargo lost and made a payout of $1.3 million, with their attorneys and
the victims’ attorneys getting paid their time on the case out of that settlement.
After the victims attorneys had collected $650,000 wages(only by the hour the
judge said. $350 to $500 or more per hour. Wouldn’t that be a nice hourly wage?),
they determined there was no more for them to get from this case and made a
settlement among the victiims of a penny on the dollar.
My $21,400 became $214.00.
“Accept or get nothing.”
The guy with the $538,000 loss had died, his heirs got about $5,380.00,
not even enough to pay for his funeral.
Why bring this up?
Who were the crooks in this case? The owner of the investment firm?
Or the Judge and the attorneys?
You decide for yourself, but I tend to believe that the legal people were the real
criminals here.

 

No comments »

5/10/2019

I had a dream that I did lose the appeal in an actual court room and when outside
of the court room a lady asked me why I was fighting it.
My attorney even said I was technically guilty.
My response started just to her and then to another lady and then to a whole  crowd with nothing but positive response.

My response:
It’s the principle of the matter.
They have been harassing me, singling me out.
Another lady remarked about the developer.
Yes, he and his buddies at the zoning department, each time he barks, they jump.
At first using drone obtained photos, which is illegal.
So then they used county tax assessor aerial photos that can be zoomed in to see
a mole on your face.
If drone photos taken under 450 feet are illegal, then aerial photos that can zoom in are illegal.   The crowd agreed.

Then what is the purpose of fences?
There is none.
The only way the zoning guys saw and complained is that they basically looked
through knot holes and used the aerial photos.
And my acreage is not residential but agricultural of 3.63 acres.
Can’t park RVs unless a primary residence is there.
But prior to the 2008 ordinance, RVs*, unless registered with DMV, were illegal to
be parked at a residence.

(Under penalty of fines of $25 daily, I was forced to move my motor home to my acreage 2 months prior to the ordinance.)
For 9 years and 11 months none of this was an issue until
the developer barked.
(I had a construction trailer, a green house, several storage trailers, and several
trailers being demolished on my acreage.)
Why did the judge rule against you? was asked me.
That’s what they do; they never intend to support the defendant, guilty is all they
ever want to say.
Then the court recess was over.

This is not a dream In Ivins.

Yesterday,  a Judge Ryan Harris of the Utah Appeals Court,  ruled that nothing
illegal was done by the AL* court or District Court or the ALJ* or District Judge.

I am guilty.

Reminds me of a play I directed in  the early 1970s.

part of a song from the play went like this:

“Guilty, Guilty,  that’s all we ever say

Guilty, Guilty,  that’s how we get our pay

All it takes is a cap and a gown”
(Remember that it was legal in Germany to report and turn in Jews and legal for the government to imprison and kill Jews.)

*ALJ means Administrative Law Judge.
*.Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper trailers), fifth-wheel trailers, popup campers and truck campers.
Typical amenities of an RV include a kitchen, a bathroom, and one or more sleeping facilities. RVs can range from the utilitarian — containing only sleeping quarters and basic cooking facilities — to the luxurious, with features like air conditioning (AC), water heaters, televisions and satellite receptors, and quartz countertops, for example.

RVs can either be trailers (which are towed behind motor vehicles) or self-motorized. Most RVs are single-deck; however, double-deck RVs also exist. To allow a more compact size while in transit, larger RVs often have expandable sides or canopies.

Quick Tips, Guides & DMV BasicsWhat Qualifies as an RV or Motorhome?
What Qualifies as an RV or Motorhome?
By: Kathy Teel July 21, 2012
The term “motor home” is often used interchangeably with “RV.” “Motor home,” however, is an informal phrase, used to describe a variety of recreational vehicles, while “recreational vehicle” (or RV) is a technical and legal term. Understanding which kind of RV or motorhome you have will help you with RV registration.

In asking which vehicles qualify as RVs or motor homes during the registration process, it’s easiest to remember that the U.S. Department of Transportation categorizes RVs by class.

Class A Recreational Vehicles

Class A recreational vehicles are motor homes, regardless of the type of chassis beneath them and whether or not the vehicle contains “slide-outs” (additional living spaces that slide out when the vehicle is stopped for camping). Class A also includes commercial passenger and school buses that are converted into RVs (these are often the largest mobile homes available).

Class A RVs are generally luxurious mobile homes with a solid body, a panoramic front window, berths that convert from living room or dinette areas, and bathroom facilities.

Class B Recreational Vehicles

Class B recreational vehicles are campervans. Campervans are conventional vans with raised roofs (either “pop up” or “fixed”). They often have small kitchens with refrigerators and gas grills.

Larger models may have a water heater, heat and air conditioning, a portable toilet, or an internal shower. (Smaller models usually have a portable toilet and an external shower, which can be used with an awning to ensure privacy.)

Class C Recreational Vehicles

Unlike a Class A mobile home, which is built on a single chassis, a Class C vehicle is attached to a truck and hauled behind. Class C RVs are characterized by a distinctive alcove which fits over the truck cab, providing either a double berth for sleeping or, sometimes, an “entertainment” section, with a TV and video games.

Other Recreational Vehicle Types

In addition to the three classes of RVs, there are also other types of recreational vehicles or motorhomes:

Truck Campers: Similar to the C-class vehicles described above, these are smaller RVs, carried in the beds of pickup truck.
Pop-up Campers: Collapsible campers with pull-out berths and tent walls, towed in a compact unit behind a vehicle.
Travel Trailers (sometimes called “caravans”): Non-collapsible, light-weight trailers with simple amenities, towed behind a vehicle.

None of the trailers on my acreage had “… amenities of an RV include a kitchen, a bathroom, and one or more sleeping facilities. “

No comments »