A federal court jury on Friday ordered two executives of a now-defunct Florida precious-metals trading firm, convicted of defrauding 1,100 customers of $4.5 million, to forfeit more than $3.5 million in assets.
Richard Feldman, 60, of Palm City, Fla., and Richard Martenson, 39, of Excelsior, Minn., were convicted of wire fraud, mail fraud and racketeering in a verdict returned Thursday night. The two were convicted of defrauding investors in 48 states, including 60 investors from Illinois.
The same jury returned on Friday and rendered its verdict on the forfeiture request made by assistant U.S. Attorneys Victoria Peters and John Podliska.
According to prosecutors, Feldman was the owner of First Guaranty Metals Co., of Miami, and Martenson was a supervisor. The company lured their victims into investing in metal-futures contracts for the purchase of gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals, the prosecutors said.
Between July, 1979, and January, 1980, thousands of telephone calls were made by sales personnel working in what the prosecutors said was a ”boiler-room operation.”
Customers were required to pay only 10 percent of the amount of their investment, the government said. Later when the price of silver dropped, customers were forced to come up with more money to cover their investments, it said.
The government alleged that during the short time First Guaranty was in business, customers invested more than $11 million. A total of $6.5 million was returned, the government said.
