With a fickle stock market and broader economic uncertainty around the globe, Howard and Heather Short were looking for a safe harbor for their savings and financial stability.
The San Diego couple settled on gold.
After months of hearing advertisements promoting the Oxford Gold Group on a local talk radio station, the Shorts began transferring chunks of their retirement portfolio to the Beverly Hills company.
“I thought, it’s silver and gold. It’s tangible. It’s not going to lose value,” Heather Short said in a telephone interview. “We did one lump sum from each of our retirement accounts.”
Oxford Gold told clients their assets would be deposited with Equity Trust Co., an Ohio firm specializing in so-called self-directed investment accounts focused on precious metals, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets.
But earlier this year, the Shorts and hundreds of other investors received a letter from Equity Trust indicating that the money they directed to Oxford Gold had not been properly recorded.
“What this means is that our records reflect that i) the metals you purchased from Oxford Gold were not yet fulfilled and delivered to your designated depository, and/or ii) that your Equity Trust account(s) has not received the cash proceeds from the precious metals that you sold to Oxford Gold,” the unsolicited correspondence said.
The letter from Equity Trust advised the Shorts to review their statements and to contact Oxford Gold for further information. Equity Trust was no longer doing business with the gold purveyor, it said.
“Thank you for being a valued client,” the letter concluded.
Now the Shorts are among hundreds of people who have lost millions of dollars of retirement savings to Oxford Gold, which according to news reports out of Los Angeles has shut its doors and closed without a trace.
They also are the lead plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit filed late last week in San Diego federal court alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of federal securities laws and unfair competition.
The plaintiffs, who live in at least 27 different states, say Equity Trust failed to make sure that investments were being properly credited to their retirement accounts, the lawsuit says.
“Business records generated at defendant Equity Trust Co. in connection with the transfer of the millions of dollars from investor accounts showed substantial and material amount of precious metals transactions with OGG were not being settled,” the complaint alleges.
That means “the investor funds were going unaccounted for by Equity Trust Co. in violation of defendant Equity Trust Co.’s fiduciary duty to investors,” it added.
Equity Trust, a Westlake, Ohio-based investment house that claims more than $45 billion in total assets under management, said in a statement that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit also names a host of principals at Oxford Gold Group, including chief executive Pedram Granfar, chief financial officer Johnathan Adler and Patrick Granfar, another executive and co-founder.
None of the Oxford Gold Group executives could be reached for comment.
According to state records, the California Franchise Tax Board suspended the company April 2 — about seven weeks after Equity Trust alerted account holders that their deposits had not been recorded.
In early May, the company filed documents with the secretary of state indicating that it moved from a Wilshire Boulevard office in Beverly Hills to a midtown Sacramento address.
Over the past several weeks, news reports in Los Angeles said Oxford Gold was no longer responding to questions from clients. The company website is not operational, and its telephone number does not work.
Short said she reported her experience to state financial regulators and to federal investigators.
She said both the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and the U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission have opened investigations, and she spoke to a federal investigator as recently as last month.
Neither agency responded to requests for comment on the Oxford Gold complaints.
The lawsuit, filed last Friday in the Southern District by the San Diego law firm Aguirre & Severson, alleges that plaintiffs were duped by Oxford Gold Group advertisements largely broadcast on radio, television and social media platforms.
“In defendants’ nationwide advertising campaign delivered through television, radio, YouTube, social media and written brochures represented that plaintiffs’ funds would be obtained and held in safety in trust,” the complaint says.
The allegation is backed up by a slew of negative reviews that have turned up online in recent months.
“Even Jesse Kelly the radio guy told us all how great Oxford Gold is!” a client identified as Scott D. from San Francisco posted on Yelp last month. “I emailed Jesse Kelly and let him know the OGG is a scam but no reply from him.
“As far as I know, he still sings their praises on the radio paid for by our stolen money,” he said.
The San Diego case was submitted three days after a similar suit was filed in Sacramento federal court. A judge will likely have to determine which court will eventually preside over the dispute, and which lawyers will represent a class of plaintiffs.
The defendants have not yet responded to the allegations, according to federal court records.
