The Risks & Rewards of BULLION DEPOSITORIES

There was a time when the bullion industry spawned relatively few colorful news stories, but things have changed, and drama from the world of bullion has lately been spilling into the general media.

- JOSHUA MCMORROW-HERNANDEZ

Robert Higgins, the owner of Argent Asset Group (LLC) and First State Depository Company, LLC, was embroiled in a media firestorm when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleged fraud against him and his companies in connection with a multimillion-dollar scheme involving hundreds of customers.

The civil suit, filed in October 2022, claimed that since 2014 Argent and First State Depository, operating as a single enterprise under the tutelage of Higgins, fraudulently solicited and misappropriated at least $7 million from at least 200 customers with a silver-leasing plan known as the Maximus Program. The CFTC asserts the Maximus Program promised payments to enrolled customers who leased silver to Argent and that customers were informed silver would be acquired and insured on their behalf.

However, the suit asserts that the defendants misappropriated the customers’ assets and misled clients who attempted to transfer their holdings to other depositories and failed to provide the insurance coverage promised. The CFTC claims Higgins is at least indirectly responsible, given his role as the operator of Argent and First State Depository. And that’s not all…

PRIVATE SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES RAIDED

On the West Coast came another bombshell when U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills, California, was raided by FBI agents in March 2021. The storefront safety-deposit company operated on a system where customers could rent boxes on an anonymous basis. This raised concerns from authorities that “only those who wish to hide their wealth from the DEA, IRS, or creditors would” anonymously rent boxes from U.S. Private Vaults, as wrote FBI agent Lynne Zellhart in an affidavit.