One of the many ironic things about the court-ordered dismantling of Larry Bates' ill-gotten financial empire is that a frequent part of his legal defense was to dismiss as mere "anecdotes" the individual stories of victims created by the deceitful practices of his precious-metals firm, FAMC.
The painful truth of those little "stories" has added up to a cumulative judgment by precious-metals consumers around America that Bates and FAMC are "guilty" of not deserving to be in business at all. That's why Bates was in court in Memphis on Monday as his business and individual possessions entered into receivership.
And in time, those "stories" will come into play once again as the court decides on the $80-million class-action suit brought against Bates and his company by several of the victims of his deceitful practices. To name a few things: his company under-delivered purchases of precious metals or put off deliveries, defrauding consumers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To us, these aren't merely "anecdotes" but the actual stories of real individuals who were exploited in a bad way. We feel the pain of these numerous individuals whom Bates cheated for many years. We directly assisted many of them, helping them understand just how he was cheating them. We guided several of them to seek legal help, which then materialized in this class-action suit.
We are humbled that the Lord picked us to help deliver a kind of earthly justice against this fraudulent man and his firm, one who grew much of his business by pretending to abide by "Christian" principles.
Now, following Monday's court procedures, we are hearing many more "anecdotes" in the form of letters of thanks from those we had helped.
"Thanks for all your hard work!!!" read one testimonial that we have just received via e-mail. "You were 'anointed' for this. I luckily got my gold (assume it is gold) [from FAMC] and when I didn't get my silver order after years, they finally sent me a check with an increase as price had gone up. But I am [not sure] what I would have gotten had I actually gotten the silver."
The sad thing about these anecdotes is that even as his business was crumbling around him, Bates still managed to cull more victims. One man we just recently became aware of had actually waited over a year to obtain a check for an investment he had actually made. FAMC had the coins, however the man didn't get his $30,000 from Bates.
And now the sad thing is that he most likely never will. That's one more "story" Bates can tuck away.
The painful truth of those little "stories" has added up to a cumulative judgment by precious-metals consumers around America that Bates and FAMC are "guilty" of not deserving to be in business at all. That's why Bates was in court in Memphis on Monday as his business and individual possessions entered into receivership.
And in time, those "stories" will come into play once again as the court decides on the $80-million class-action suit brought against Bates and his company by several of the victims of his deceitful practices. To name a few things: his company under-delivered purchases of precious metals or put off deliveries, defrauding consumers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To us, these aren't merely "anecdotes" but the actual stories of real individuals who were exploited in a bad way. We feel the pain of these numerous individuals whom Bates cheated for many years. We directly assisted many of them, helping them understand just how he was cheating them. We guided several of them to seek legal help, which then materialized in this class-action suit.
We are humbled that the Lord picked us to help deliver a kind of earthly justice against this fraudulent man and his firm, one who grew much of his business by pretending to abide by "Christian" principles.
Now, following Monday's court procedures, we are hearing many more "anecdotes" in the form of letters of thanks from those we had helped.
"Thanks for all your hard work!!!" read one testimonial that we have just received via e-mail. "You were 'anointed' for this. I luckily got my gold (assume it is gold) [from FAMC] and when I didn't get my silver order after years, they finally sent me a check with an increase as price had gone up. But I am [not sure] what I would have gotten had I actually gotten the silver."
The sad thing about these anecdotes is that even as his business was crumbling around him, Bates still managed to cull more victims. One man we just recently became aware of had actually waited over a year to obtain a check for an investment he had actually made. FAMC had the coins, however the man didn't get his $30,000 from Bates.
And now the sad thing is that he most likely never will. That's one more "story" Bates can tuck away.
About the Author:
Want to find out more about precious metal investing, then visit Anne Trimble's site on how to buy gold and silver.
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