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New Mexico wins part of $51 million settlement from fraudulent coin scheme
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Six New Mexico investors will be compensated after they were defrauded of $2.2 million in a precious metals scheme by California-based company Safeguard Metals.
State officials announced Thursday that a final judgment has been made in a multi-state lawsuit against the company and its founder, Jeffrey Ikahn, after an investigation found that Safeguard had convinced its elderly victims to liquidate their retirement accounts to purchase overpriced metals and coins, generating around $68 million for the company.
In a 2022 lawsuit, plaintiffs alleged that Ikahn and his sales agents posed as investment advisers and convinced elderly victims that the coins they bought would be more valuable and more secure than traditional investments using lies and high-pressure sales tactics.
Safeguard Metals has been ordered to pay $51.2 million for defrauding 450 victims across 30 states in a scheme that ran from October 2017 through July 2021, New Mexico officials said in a news release.
Half of the money will go to the victims for restitution, and the other half will be divided between the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and regulators in each state. The amount of settlement money going to the state of New Mexico has not yet been determined, said state Regulation and Licensing Department spokesperson Andrea Brown.
“This judgment sends a clear message: if you target elderly investors in our state, we will pursue every avenue to hold you accountable,” Alissa Berger, lead counsel for New Mexico on the case, said in a statement.
