Zions Bank sued in connection with alleged Ponzi scheme at Utah’s Rust Rare Coin

Rust Rare Coin and its owner, Gaylen Rust, have been charged in a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors and customers. The Rust Rare Coin store, which is now closed, is located on 300 S. in Salt Lake City, Utah, date not specificied | Photo courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY — The victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme at Rust Rare Coin are now suing Zions Bank, alleging an employee facilitated and perpetuated the fraud and that the bank was negligent in their handling of the account in question.

According to a report from Fox13Now, several plaintiffs, including Travis and Nicole Gregory and Patrick Springer, filed the lawsuit Tuesday, alleging the bank should have exercised more diligence in regard to the account and that at least one employee knew about the fraud and worked to mislead investors.

If someone would’ve done their job, maybe I wouldn’t have lost my money,” said Travis Gregory.

Authorities stated in November that Rust Rare Coin is believed to have bilked investors for about $170 million over the course of several years. The scam involved a “Silver Pool” and promises to investors that they were buying into a stockpile of precious metals when prices were low, and profiting when metal was sold at higher prices.

“It’s devastated us. It was life savings, right? I’ll just say in the hundreds of thousands,” said Springer.

Read more from November: Precious metals dealer, entrepreneur from Utah accused of $170M Ponzi scheme

That stockpile never existed, according to authorities, and Gaylen Rust lied to investors about their potential returns.

“He had a whole story. He had a story for everything,” said Travis Gregory.

“It was really viable and he had a lot of experience,” Nicole Gregory, one plaintiff in the lawsuit, said. “Over time it was just so real. If you did have a concern, there was answers for them.”

Read the full story here:  Fox13Now.com.

Written by REBECCA GREEN, BEN WINSLOW and DORA SCHEIDELL, Fox13Now.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright 2018, KSTU. A Tribune broadcasting station

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

3 Comments

  • utahdiablo January 9, 2019 at 9:54 pm

    Precious Metals huh?….by the way, has anyone ever found those Gold Tablets that went missing?

    • Comment January 9, 2019 at 11:06 pm

      Warren Jeffs had them for awhile along with the magic hat and talking rock (the “seer stone”), but now no one knows

  • KR567 January 10, 2019 at 5:56 am

    Well there’s a real shocker for ya ! lol !

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.