Millions in Gold Coins Found
tmcsr69
Posts: 1,307 ✭
From our local TV network news in St. Louis.
A former vice-president of a Clayton brokerage firm is under investigation by the FBI and state regulators after millions of dollars in gold coins were found in the basement of his home.
KSDK -- A former vice-president of a Clayton brokerage firm is under investigation by the FBI and state regulators after millions of dollars in gold coins were found in the basement of his home.
Don Weir, Jr. had worked for HFI Securities. The firm solicited the assistance of the FBI to take custody of the gold and silver coins and investigate why they were being kept in Weir's basement.
HFI Securities said it was not involved with or knew about the coins or that they were being stored there.
Weir apparently was working with investors on his own.
Weir's lawyer said his client is cooperating with authorities.
KSDK
A former vice-president of a Clayton brokerage firm is under investigation by the FBI and state regulators after millions of dollars in gold coins were found in the basement of his home.
KSDK -- A former vice-president of a Clayton brokerage firm is under investigation by the FBI and state regulators after millions of dollars in gold coins were found in the basement of his home.
Don Weir, Jr. had worked for HFI Securities. The firm solicited the assistance of the FBI to take custody of the gold and silver coins and investigate why they were being kept in Weir's basement.
HFI Securities said it was not involved with or knew about the coins or that they were being stored there.
Weir apparently was working with investors on his own.
Weir's lawyer said his client is cooperating with authorities.
KSDK
Crazy old man from Missouri
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Comments
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>That's the Weirdest coin story I've read. >>
Noe, maybe it's the second wierdest.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>So when did it become a crime to store your life savings in your basement? >>
Weir apparently was working with investors on his own.
Appearantly they were clients coins, not Weir's, house by Wier in his own basement, without the investement firms knowledge. Is that illegal? Dunno?
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
<< <i>I knew the RYK super-secret stash would come to light sooner or later. Here he is talking about French medals, all the while retaining his GCL (gold coin lover) status. Nice try
Maybe Coinosaurus could write a book about it. He could title it: Treasure in the Cellar II.
<< <i>Don Weir, Jr. had worked for HFI Securities. The firm solicited the assistance of the FBI to take custody of the gold and silver coins and investigate why they were being kept in Weir's basement. >>
There may be something very wrong here, but this still sounds like "guilty until proven innocent" tactics to me. Maybe there was enough evidence to get a warrant, but when you have to invade a home and "investigate why" the coins were there, it doesn't pass the smell test. To have probable cause for a search, shouldn't they already know why they are looking?
Maybe there should be a kind of 'limbo' forum for posts such as this.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/20/2008
Town and Country — The discovery of millions of dollars in gold and silver coins stacked in the basement of an investment banker's home has triggered an investigation by the FBI and securities regulators, according to court documents, his former company and lawyers.
A lawyer for Donald C. Weir Jr.'s former employer, HFI Securities Inc. of Clayton, said Friday that people around the country had tens of millions of dollars invested in gold and silver collectible coins with Weir but that investigators have so far been able to identify only a fraction of those assets.
"We do not believe in good faith that (the coins already located) ... will come anywhere close to the amount of gold that was supposed to have been purchased," the lawyer, Albert S. Watkins, said. Watkins said Weir had been fired.
Weir's wife discovered the coins in the basement of their home in the 1100 block of Chatsworth Place Drive in Town and Country on Sept. 10, according to a temporary restraining order sought by HFI on Monday to protect them.
Weir and his wife are estranged, and he is living in St. Charles County, court documents state. Weir's wife, Marguerite, called in HFI's president, Jim Winkelmann, who confronted Weir the next day at the office.
Weir, 55, promised to return the coins to clients and then left, telling staff he had "errands to run," court documents say. HFI then informed the FBI and federal prosecutors.
Watkins said that some of the coins were in safes but others were just stacked in the basement. Watkins said the scene evoked two movies: "The Nutty Professor" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," referring to the mounds of money. "All that's missing is Willy Wonka," he said.
Officials have since removed the coins and were said to be still counting them.
Watkins said HFI was cooperating with the FBI and securities regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a nongovernmental securities regulator. Both agencies declined to comment Friday, as did federal prosecutors.
HFI is also working with investors to determine the full amount they had placed with Weir, Watkins said. The lawyer emphasized that Weir was working with the gold and silver investors on his own.
A young man at the house where the coins were discovered declined to comment when a reporter stopped by Friday afternoon.
Weir's lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, said Friday that he did not have an estimate of what had been found in the basement.
"Mr. Weir has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the authorities to create a full accounting of the inventory," he said. Rosenblum repeated variations on that phrase when asked if Weir had a complete list of clients and if all client money would be recovered.
Weir is a graduate of the John Burroughs School, Creighton University and Georgetown University's School of Business, HFI said.
Gold coins worth millions and clients who put their trust in what this fellow is holding may not be a crime at all. This is not necessarily criminal and there is nothing I've read that implicates him. The guy is cooperating so he's probably on the up and up, but,...
Imagine, he could have saved 15% by switching to PANDAS. (a gecko joke)
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
The Beatles
<< <i>
<< <i>I knew the RYK super-secret stash would come to light sooner or later. Here he is talking about French medals, all the while retaining his GCL (gold coin lover) status. Nice try
Maybe Coinosaurus could write a book about it. He could title it: Treasure in the Cellar II.
So indeed it is a cellar's market eh Robert?
NGC registry V-Nickel proof #6!!!!
working on proof shield nickels # 8 with a bullet!!!!
RIP "BEAR"
Gold in the basement where else would you store it? Not in a bank I hope or a barn.