Bill Hionas caught in Precious Metals Scam.....
06-21-2010, 10:49 AM
#11
OSO OG
Gold Member
06-21-2010, 10:52 AM
#12
Registered
Yeah the guys a POS, AND his clients are stupid.
Ive never understood why anyone would let an institution "hold" their assets especially precious metals.
When it comes to metals I insist on delivery of 100% my assets in full upon payment. I then weigh each piece to insure Im not getting ripped off.
When the SHTF all your holdings in remote locations become nearly if not completely meaningless.
Insist on delivery of the actual product .
Uncle Dave
Ive never understood why anyone would let an institution "hold" their assets especially precious metals.
When it comes to metals I insist on delivery of 100% my assets in full upon payment. I then weigh each piece to insure Im not getting ripped off.
When the SHTF all your holdings in remote locations become nearly if not completely meaningless.
Insist on delivery of the actual product .
Uncle Dave
Platinum Member
09-02-2014, 02:13 PM
#18
Registered
Thread Starter
Still never served time, but was forced to pay a portion of the 29 million back
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6653-13
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6653-13
The CFTC Order, filed on July 29, 2013, requires Hionas and the Pan American Companies jointly to pay restitution of approximately $3.2 million to defrauded customers and a $1.5 million civil monetary penalty. The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against Hionas and the Pan American Companies and permanently prohibits them from further violations of federal commodities law, as charged.
The Order finds that, from July 2011 to at least April 2012, the Pan American Companies fraudulently solicited and accepted more than $4.7 million from retail public customers throughout the United States and Canada to engage in illegal off-exchange financed transactions in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, in which a retail customer purportedly purchases physical commodities and pays just a portion of the purchase price.
Specifically, the Order finds that the Pan American Companies falsely claimed to (1) sell and transfer ownership of physical metals to customers, (2) provide loans to customers to purchase the physical metals, and (3) arrange for storage and store customers’ physical metals in independent depositories. In fact, the Order finds that in their retail financed transactions, the Pan American Companies did not sell or transfer ownership of any physical metals, did not disburse any funds as loans, and did not store physical metals in any depositories for or on behalf of customers.
The Order also finds that the Pan American Companies defrauded customers and potential customers by misrepresenting and failing to disclose material facts relating to (1) their experience and expertise dealing in retail financed transactions, (2) actual trading results other customers had achieved, and (3) the profit potential and risks associated with engaging in off-exchange metals transactions on a financed basis, among other things.
The Order finds that 180 of the 189 Pan American Companies’ customers lost money, with much of the approximate $3.2 million they lost going to pay commissions and fees to the Pan American Companies, which totaled over $1.68 million – equivalent to approximately 35 percent of the more than $4.7 million accepted from customers.
The Order further finds that Pan American Metals of Miami (PAMOM) provided customers a risk disclosure document stating that “[f]inancing precious metal trading is not an appropriate investment for retirement funds”; however, PAMOM solicited at least 46 individuals over 65 years of age, four over 90 years old, and one was solicited while in hospice care.
The CFTC Order states that such financed off-exchange transactions with retail customers have been illegal since July 16, 2011, when certain amendments of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) became effective. As explained in the Order, financed transactions in commodities with retail customers like those engaged in by the Pan American Companies must be executed on, or subject to, the rules of an exchange approved by the CFTC. Since the Pan American Companies’ transactions were done off-exchange with retail customers, they were illegal.
Furthermore, the CFTC Order states that when the Pan American Companies engaged in these illegal transactions they were acting for Hunter Wise Commodities, LLC, which the CFTC charged with fraud and other violations in federal court in Florida on December 5, 2012 (see CFTC Press Release 6447-12).
