Reported by Joseph Wilkins

A Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. Wikimedia

The vault where precious metals dealer Robert Higgins claimed to be storing over half a million of his clients’ silver coins was found by investigators to be empty – except for little boxes of paper IOUs.

Now, the 68-year old has been ordered by a Delaware court to pay $146 million in damages as punishment for leading an elaborate scam that misappropriated almost $115 million of his customers’ money over a period of eight years, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in a statement.

From 2014 to 2022, Higgins convinced almost 200 unsuspecting investors to buy and store their American Eagle Silver coins through his two companies, Argent Asset Group LLC and First State Depository Company LLC, according to the CFTC.

Read full report: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/commodities-metals-silver-coins-vanished-cftc-fraud-dealer-fined-146m-2023-7?amp