Steer clear of Patrick J. White of Austin Coins, Inc. of Melville, NY
Goldbully
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Why do people do things like this.................
NY Post PR.
Michigan man conned out of $400K in gold coins the latest victim in Long Island fraud ring
By Deirdre Bardolf and
Kathianne Boniello
Published June 21, 2025, 4:15 p.m. ET
A Michigan man was allegedly scammed out of almost $400,000 in gold coins by a Long Island dealer who is at the center of at least a dozen scams across the United States, court documents reveal.
Ahmad Abdallah shipped five boxes of American Gold Eagle coins to Suffolk County-based Austin Coins in May 2024 as part of a deal that they be appraised and sent back if no trade was agreed to, according to a lawsuit filed on Long Island last week.
The collection included nearly 150 perfect condition, 22-karat coins minted as early as 1987 and ranging in size from 1/10th of an ounce to 1 ounce. The coins have face values of up to $50 each, though with gold currently priced at $3,400 an ounce, their actual worth is much higher.
After what he says was a “bad faith, low-ball appraisal,” Abdallah demanded that Patrick White, the owner of Austin Coins, send the collection back to him, the federal court filing claims.
But Abdallah never got his coins back, he claimed in the suit, and was instead strung along by White, who assured him he was trying to find a buyer for the collection.
“Any news on my coins?” Abdallah asked White in October, according to court documents. “Pat, please man, tell me something.”
“Pat, you just tell me things to hold me off for a day or so and then you disappear and nothing happens,” Abdallah texted him a week later.
Abdallah is seeking at least $385,000 for what he calls a “willful, fraudulent, and dishonest ‘appraisal scam.'”
White was already in court in April for a hearing in a different case, in which he and co-conspirators were accused of scamming Earl Keith — an 82-year-old retiree and cancer patient from Wyoming — into “investing” more than $300,000 of his life savings into gold coins.
Kenneth Walsh, an attorney for Keith, Abdallah and several other alleged victims of White and his businesses said he asked White about Abdallah during the April hearing.
White claimed he had Abdallah’s coins at his home in Huntington, before admitting they were actually in a storage container mostly filled with “junk” in Melville that was at risk of being auctioned off because he owed the facility money, according to transcripts.
He paid the CubeSmart an hour before the contents were auctioned off but has refused to return Abdallah’s coins, according to the court papers.
Continues in NY Post Link
Comments
Well at this point all parties are innocent until proven otherwise, but the answer to your question is simple greed. Something we unfortunately see every day in this hobby.
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It appears that the dealer you referenced is no longer in business.
At the same time, there’s a legitimate dealer in Austin, TX under the name “Austin Rare Coins & Bullion.
I realize that if someone reads your post they’ll see that you’re talking about a different dealer. But if you’re going to leave up a post about a defunct business, to avoid possible confusion, I think it would be a good idea to at least add “of Melville NY” to your thread title.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Done.
I
Thank you.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Why didn't the seller just sell local, face to face?
Why ship bullion coins for appraisal since value is clear and out of state as well.? The cost to send them must have costs a fortune and how do you ship a large quantity and get insurance for that high value amount?
To bad for that guy .
Exactly. Who in their right mind would ship $400,000 of gold coins?
He could have worked with a local dealer with all the necessary credentials.
We do the show in Melville NY and we have never heard of this guy
I'm just spitballing here, but could there be some tax liability if sold locally VS out of state?
peacockcoins
I’m also just spitballing, but maybe the dealer lured the seller with high pressure techniques and/or claims of being a higher buyer.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
This an alleged image of the coins the seller sent to the dealer.
Are these coins in legitimate tpg slabs?
"The collection included nearly 150 perfect condition, 22-karat coins minted as early as 1987 and ranging in size from 1/10th of an ounce to 1 ounce. The coins have face values of up to $50 each, though with gold currently priced at $3,400 an ounce, their actual worth is much higher."
The pictures aren't clear enough to be certain, but they look like they could be NGC slabs to me. Possibly these:
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Good catch @UpGrayedd, at least now we know the gold coins are traceable.
I assume the dealer would have to crack these coins out to avoid being detected.
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So many red flags. This guy learned a really hard lesson that just didn’t needed to be learned.
Those are horrible pictures. No offense to anyone
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The amount of elderly people that fall victim to these type of scams is heart breaking, for every one we read about, I imagine a dozen more that aren't identified until post-mortem asset valuations.
Im currently assisting with a case of deceptive trade practices against a similar boiler-room outfit who preys on the elderly. They lost one of many lawsuits filed against them from the past decade, where a lonely widow was defrauded of close to $180,000 over a 6 month period, and the actual value of here "collection" was closer to $30,000 at most. In this case, she did end up being awarded treble damages which are triple the amount of initial damages, plus legal costs.
There is a happy ending sometimes, but these cockroach organizations make my blood boil, and theres a special place in hell for these so called "advisors" who use the slimiest of tactics to manipulate the most vulnerable of targets. The OP case sounds like treble damages might be in order, especially if it's litigated in NY.
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Instead of going after boiler room frauds like this -- who directly hurt the elderly and vulnereable -- the SEC and other government agencies are more interested in headline-grabbing "Big Elephant" trophies like dubious insider trading cases, questionable fraud cases, restraint of trade, etc.
Usually, they involve a super rich person vs. another super rich person...or big institutions. People who can fend for themselves, in other words.
This was how Bernie Madoff escaped: half-assed attention to detail with a fraction of the resources devoted to him as some high-profile hedge fund insider trading cases.
Because greed works both ways. The seller was apparently led to believe the scammer would pay above market. Otherwise, no one sends anything that valuable, and liquid, to a stranger for an appraisal.
If the guy wasn't paying storage fees for the coins he stole, there is no way there will be anything to collect in a treble damage award. The victim will be lucky if they actually get their coins back.
No. Tax liability on a sale is determined by where you live. Not by where you sell. If tax evasion was the motive, karma is unforgiving.
I agree, in almost all of these small time scammer cases the judgement is worthless or close to worthless. I'm sure there are exceptions I just don't remember seeing any.