Federal Regulators Ban A-Mark’s Leveraged Precious Metals Investment Platform
In an article published in the Daily Business Review, Partner Aaron Cohn discusses a recent administrative order from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission against one of the largest precious metals dealers in the country, A-Mark Precious Metals Inc. and its subsidiary, Goldline Inc., as part of a settlement finding the firms liable for fraudulent conduct in connection with off-exchange precious metals transactions and for engaging in off-exchange, leveraged retail commodity transactions that violate the 28-day delivery rule, among other things. A-Mark and its subsidiary were required to pay $1 million in disgorgement and monetary penalties – an enforcement order that is exceptional in that A-Mark is a publicly traded company that was held directly liable for the fraudulent conduct of its subsidiary because it controlled and directed management, which A-Mark replaced when it acquired the company in 2017.
