Posted on 09/17/2017 10:27:56 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24
On Thursday, September 7, the Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Lawrence J. Laurenzi, announced the federal sentences given to Larry Bates and three other members of his family for their convictions in a gold and silver Ponzi scheme that defrauded customers from around the country of over $26 million USD in unfulfilled orders. Sentencing had been delayed due to legal motions filed by the defense.
After a five-week-long trial in May of this year, former Tennessee state representative and Christian talk radio host Larry Bates was convicted of the 46 counts of mail and wire fraud brought against him in an earlier federal indictment. Larry’s son Charles “Chuck” Bates was found guilty of 16 counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Another son, Robert Bates, was convicted of five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy. Robert’s wife Kinsey Brown Bates was convicted of one count of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman sentenced Larry and his son Chuck in separate hearings on Tuesday, September 5. The 73-year-old Larry Bates received a total of 262 months (21 years and 10 months) in federal prison plus a subsequent three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $21,210,345.39 in restitution, as well as a “mandatory special assessment” of $4,600. Chuck Bates was sentenced to 151 months (12 years and seven months) in federal prison, as well as three years of supervised release. He must also pay restitution to the amount of $19,649,731.70 and a mandatory special assessment of $1,700.
Bates had faced a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each of the 46 counts of mail and wire fraud.
Then on Wednesday, September 6, Judge Lipman sentenced both Robert Bates, who had been convicted of eight counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy, and Kinsey Bates, who had been convicted of two counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. For his part in the scheme, Robert received 151 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $19,659,911 in restitution and a $900 mandatory special assessment. Kinsey received a federal sentence of 63 months (five years and three months) and must pay $9,526,199.95 in restitution and a $300 mandatory special assessment. (Read more at link)
All of these operatives knew each other in Colorado but worked independently later and did not do business the right way. They did not provide all their customers all/any of what their customers paid for. Larry Bates, and his two sons and a daughter-in-law faced trail in Memphis and now stand convicted. Ron Wilson was conservative activist in upstate South Carolina and was convicted. William Kennedy was convicted in the late 1990s in Colorado and since then has been verbally supported by such conservatives as James Dobson and the late Tim LeHaye. It is as if some devil crawled into Bates, Kennedy, and Wilson (Wilson is the one of the three showing true contrition). Because these gold hustlers cloaked themselves in conservative and/or Biblical wrapping if embarrassed the Right...but not as seriously as the JFK, Clinton, and Jim Jones-type scandals should embarrass the Left.
Anything that sounds too good to be true...
But people are always too gullible. They never really investigate beyond the commercials, pitch or come-on. That’s how they get taken.
Larry Bates pitched a “Mystery Babylon” event which was a financial collapse of Biblical proportions. Many elderly people invested too much of a percentage of their nest eggs.
Isnt this similar to what McCain did with the Keating five ?
Always demand delivery or physical product at time of sale.
Yes, but the Keating Five is a higher level of white collar crime...as is the Social Security Ponzi Scheme (to use Sean Hannity’s term).
It’s always the same. Some shyster comes up with some BS pitch to inveigle the unsophisticated. It doesn’t matter what age groups are involved in any scam. They design the scams to fit the suckers. Seniors do seem to be the easiest to scam though and it’s why they are so frequently targeted.
Never pay cash. Caveat emptor and “if it sounds too good to be true” it probably is. Beware of any one to tries to sell you the golden path to easy riches.
Many places will not take a credit card because of the return policy on purchased items (you could return the item if the price went down and buy it again at the lower spot price) Also the 3% fee is huge when dealing with precious metals. A bankwire or check is your best bet, but that leaves a paper trail for the feds.
Larry Bates. Did his butler call him Master Bates?
[There have been at least three gold selling scams targeted at conservative Christians]
LOL, I’m the first to mention Stabby the Clown?]
Well, I guess they only lost big on the investment but may have actually rec’d their gold.
I don't know, but do the own a motel? 😀🇵🇭
It's truly astounding that people buy gold and silver because their inherent value make it safe. Then they decide to put it in a vault somewhere with just a certificate to "prove" it's being held for them.
What's the point of buying gold and/or silver if you don't physically have the gold and/or silver in your possession?
It's amazing. I wonder how many people even study the history of money and the monetary system anymore. FWIW, I have a relative with an undergraduate Business degree who doesn't know how to do a simple stock market trade and doesn't know what the Federal Reserve Bank does.
This is peanuts compared to the criminal syndicate known as the Federal Government and accessory criminal elements such as the Clinton Foundation/Global Initiative.
“William Kennedy was convicted in the late 1990s in Colorado and since then has been verbally supported by such conservatives as James Dobson and the late Tim LeHaye.”
James Dobson’s Focus on the Family came out a few years ago as pro-amnesty. Tim LeHaye promoted heretical teachings that fed into conservative support for Dubya’s idiotic foreign policy.
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