Beck's Favorite Gold Firm Charged With Fraud

Remember Goldline, the gold dealer that Glenn Beck trusts? Well, the company and several of its top executives—including both current CEO Scott Carter and former CEO Mark Albarian—have all been charged with fraud, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office said yesterday. Goldline is accused of, among other things, theft by false pretenses, false advertising, and conspiracy, and the accused executives all face up to a year in jail, ABC News reports.

The City Attorney’s office says Goldline “runs a bait and switch operation,” that drives customers toward “highly overpriced coins by using false and misleading claims.” The investigation was first launched a year ago, with the city saying that it had received two kinds of complaints: “One is that customers say that they were lied to and misled … and the other group is saying that they received something different from what they ordered.” (More Glenn Beck Goldline International stories.)