NWT Mint files for bankruptcy
AboutAg
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The Northwest Territorial Mint filed for bankruptcy today.
Among other things, they list over 3,000 creditors. The top 18 (not including the two owed part of the $38M defamation judgment) are owed over $11M. A number of the larger dollar amounts are owed to people who had leased silver.
I'm covering this at http://about.ag/NWTMint.htm (like I did with Tulving and Bullion Direct).
Among other things, they list over 3,000 creditors. The top 18 (not including the two owed part of the $38M defamation judgment) are owed over $11M. A number of the larger dollar amounts are owed to people who had leased silver.
I'm covering this at http://about.ag/NWTMint.htm (like I did with Tulving and Bullion Direct).
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They seem open for business on their website. Not that I'd order anything big right now.
It is not clear if they are accepting orders (the rumors are flying; one was that someone tried calling and they would not accept an order).
However, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (reorganization), which would allow them to continue running the company. Tulving, Kitco, and Bullion Direct all filed Chapter 11 (CCAA in the case of Kitco, which is the Canadian equivalent). Kitco continued business as usual (after claiming the massive police raid was really a "power failure"), Tulving would have had an ordered liquidation if the Secret Service hadn't raided them, and Bullion Direct was just Chapter 11 to help make it easier to sell their website and such.
Most Chapter 11 bankruptcies do not work out, but sometimes they do. With Kitco, they filed nearly 5 years ago. If NWT is in acceptable financial shape (aside from the massive judgment against them), then they *could* continue running for years. But if their financial health is as bad as some suspect, the end would be very near.
http://www.seattletimes.com/bu...bankruptcy-protection/
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
If you buy bullion or coins from a company in chapter 11 bankruptcy, will you be protected by using a credit card to make your purchase?
Best to ask your CC Company.
They have updated the website and eliminated the bulk purchasing option and are only selling instock items through their online store. The only bullion options look to be high priced ATBs and a little old gold. I was going to place an order with them a couple weeks ago but didn't. Anybody have any outstanding orders with them?
They need silver to get to $500, and then they'll be just fine.
Won't we all!
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
3000 creditors? Using other people's money to leverage your purchases doesn't work too well in a down market. Not a fan of NW Territorial Mint.
I knew it would happen.
Why would anyone order silver from a place with a 12 week ship time? You can get silver in lots of places . There can't possibly a price advantage that outweighs a 3 month wait in a market that bounces up and down like silver does.
I knew it would happen.
Why would they have gone out of their way to defame Cohen Mint? It's not as if Cohen was a robust competitor for the same business. Sheesh. Ross Hansen should be the last one to throw stones, with his poor customer service and slow deliveries.
The Cohen that he allegedly defamed was the landlord that owned a building that NWT had used, and is not related to the Cohen Mint.
I finally had to get nasty to make them stop.... Cheers, RickO
They had a large booth at an NRA convention three years ago. I signed up for a drawing (big mistake) they were running at the show. After that they started calling me almost weekly.
I finally had to get nasty to make them stop.... Cheers, RickO
I think it was them I remember reading feedback a few months ago on ebay that said that they call you relentlessly when your purchase off of them on ebay. I could be mistaken.
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They had a large booth at an NRA convention three years ago. I signed up for a drawing (big mistake) they were running at the show. After that they started calling me almost weekly.
I finally had to get nasty to make them stop.... Cheers, RickO
I think it was them I remember reading feedback a few months ago on ebay that said that they call you relentlessly when your purchase off of them on ebay. I could be mistaken.
Block the number, problem solved.
1987: Arrested by the BATF for selling two machine guns.
1989: The largest drug bust in King County Washington involved $600,000 in precious metals (suspected money laundering) sold to the drug dealer by Hansen.
1990: During a drug raid stemming from the 1989 incidents, Hanson (a prior felon) was found to be in the possession of a firearm.
1990: Hansen also pled guilty to federal tax evasion and spent three years in Federal prison.
1995: According to his ex wife, after arguments with the city of Kent Washington about his confiscated property, Hansen made threats relating to kidnapping and bombing city officials.
1995 article:
Tarnished Metals Dealer Makes Comeback -- Auburn Man Says Kent Police, City `Ruined My Life'
Had I known all that, I never would have had them strike some medals for me in 2006 before I had acquired my own coin press. After that one experience working with them, I would never go back. I spent a full day doing selective polishing on my pair of dies and then sent them to NWTM with instructions on what (and how) to mint the medals. Without informing me, they sandblasted the dies, wiping out all the selective polishing I had done. I then wrote directly to NWTM president Hansen. But I never did get any reply from them.
I guess the one good thing about all that is that it prompted me to get my own coin press.
Life works like that and myself and many here(and elsewhere) are glad you did Dan.
Hansen threatened to get a gun and "blow away" the prosecutor, the judge, and the public defender:
THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. MICHAEL ROSS HANSEN, Petitioner.
Guessing he became an informant.
(They ARE legal to own providing you go through the process of fingerprinting, Federal back ground check, and paying an $200.00 transfer tax to the BATFE)
A fire arms website I belong to had him produce some rounds, took forever and was an massive headache.
Daniel Carr, so glad you were able to obtain that press, you sure have been putting it to good use.
The latest news is that the Chapter 11 Trustee, Mark Calvert, is planning to give all records from 1990 through 2008 to Ross Hansen (NWTM's former owner) -- for free.
A few weeks ago, Mr. Calvert filed a fairly routine motion requesting the court's permission to (among other things) destroy those records. Ross Hansen filed a response saying that he would be happy to take the records, and Mr. Calvert then yesterday filed an updated order that would allow Ross Hansen to get those records.
Remember, the FBI is in the middle of a criminal investigation over what happened, which presumably centers around Ross Hansen. And many, many NWTM customers believe that Ross Hansen stole their metal: and yet the Trustee is going to give the records of the victims to the very person they believe stole from them!
I really don't see a problem with this: Since it is a Chapter 11 not a Chapter 7 the company plans to reorganize. Had the FBI wanted the records they could have subpoenaed them. This way they are still available to the FBI should they want them. Further it saves the Trustee the expense of having them destroyed.
If I had had metal stolen from me, one of the last things I would want would be for the person I felt stole it to be handed my personal information for free.
If Ross Hansen offered to pay $1 rather than getting it for free, this would be (in my opinion as a non-lawyer) a clear violation of bankruptcy law (which requires a consumer privacy ombudsman in a case like this, with the sale/lease of personally identifiable information).
Thanks for the info and heads-up !!!
FWIW, the Trustee changed his mind, and had the NWTM attorney let the judge know at the hearing today that he wants to address the records at a later date.