Jeremy B. MerrillJul 25, 2023

NEW FROM ME: Ads hawking gold coins as a retirement investment are a constant on right-wing media. Customers, regulators have sued 14 such firms alleging a massive fraud.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/25/gold-ira-conservative-media/

How right-wing news powers the ‘gold IRA’ industry

Ads for gold coins have become a mainstay on Fox News, Newsmax and other conservative outlets, even as regulators have accused some companies of defrauding elderly clients.

The Washington Post
Show threadJeremy B. MerrillJul 25, 2023

This is the product of a long dig by me and @hannakozlowska that all started with some weird Facebook ads I saw in 2018.

Here's our original 2019 investigation into one gold IRA company: https://qz.com/1749695/facebook-ads-targeted-fox-news-fans-for-shady-silver-coin-scheme/

A precious-metals scheme used fear and Facebook to trick older conservatives out of their savings

A Quartz investigation found that dozens of older conservatives drained their retirement savings into a silver coin scheme supercharged by fear-mongering Facebook ads.

Quartz
Show threadJeremy B. Merrill
Here's a gift link to today's article in the Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3rJtR6s
How right-wing news powers the ‘gold IRA’ industry

Ads for gold coins have become a mainstay on Fox News, Newsmax and other conservative outlets, even as regulators have accused some companies of defrauding elderly clients.

The Washington Post
Jul 25, 2023 at 2:05pmWeb
Show threadJeremy B. MerrillAug 1, 2023

update: the CFTC and a gold IRA company called Safeguard Metals "have reached a settlement in principle" on liability.

The CFTC had sued Safeguard for allegedly defrauding its customers out of many millions of dollars of retirement savings.