Australian gold vaulting service investigated for fraud/malfeasance

[pmbug]

ASIC received a significant, detailed complaint of misconduct concerning a company that sells gold, silver and palladium to the public, and then stores the bullion on behalf of their customers.

The complaint suggested the company was selling bullion it did not own, failed to purchase that bullion and had a storage vault incapable of holding the volume of bullion they were minding. Further, that customers are having trouble getting their purchased bullion and there are questions around council approvals and the suitability of their “vault”.

ASIC investigated and found nothing wrong, however there is doubt around the veracity of the audit.

ASIC offered to brief me on this matter, which I accepted.

Transcript:

ASIC and the Case of the Missing Gold - Malcolm Roberts

ASIC received a significant, detailed complaint of misconduct concerning a company that sells gold, silver and palladium to the public, and then stores the bullion on behalf of their customers. The complaint suggested the company was selling bullion it did not own, failed to purchase that...

www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au

 

[Casey Jones]

We've seen already that there are forces within Australia that are very eager to demonize gold, gold refiners, gold marketers and now gold storage facilities. This, while we've seen the totalitarian nature of the present government there, lo these last four years.

Ordinarily I'd doubt a storage-facility spokesman in such a nature; but given what we know about the government; that the complaint does NOT identify any victims or any failure to deliver or to settle in cash; and asserts the improbable hypothesis that the company returned the gold given the long lead time in the investigation...I'd suggest that this storage facility is getting Peter-Schiff'd. Just as state-owned Australian Broadcast Company did with Schiff's bullion bank.

 

[Ttazzman]

sounds like to me keeping the name private etc is all designed to avoid a "bank run" on the storage vault ...that in itself implies lack of stock

 

[nickndfl]

It also happened during the days when if you were caught they chopped your head off. A greedy thief is going to steal given the opportunity.

 

[Casey Jones]

sounds like to me keeping the name private etc is all designed to avoid a "bank run" on the storage vault ...that in itself implies lack of stock

Keeping the name private, suggests to me that the whole story is either BS or twisted beyond what facts support.

Like "Reliable sources told us...."

 

[pmbug]

That video was an Australian Senator questioning a representative of ASIC - Australia's regulatory agency.

 

[Casey Jones]

I only read the transcript. The other comment suggested there might have been some background I missed.

 

[pmbug]

In the 4 June 2024 Senate Estimates hearing of the Economics Committee, corporate regulator ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission), sought to deflect from One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts' pointed questions regarding an investigation of corporate fraud by a bullion company, in response to Senator Roberts noting that ASIC commissioners have been referred to the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC).

In a move seemingly pre-arranged with the government Senator chairing the hearing, and the goverment Minister in attendance, ASIC read a lengthy statement that sought to disparage the reputation of the unnamed person behind the complaint of corporate fraud and the referral to the NACC.

ASIC's defensive behaviour indicates a level of internal turmoil inside the dysfunctional regulator which is unprecedented, likely from the intense scrutiny it has been under in recent years due to its systemic failures relating to its lack of law enforcement.

 

[pmbug]

^^ related:

 

[pmbug]

Salacious details emerge:

Sizzling WhatsApp texts blow the lid off ASIC investigation into ABC Bullion - Michael West

ASIC faces questions about its investigation into ABC Bullion amid company employees being critical of the company's storage practices.

michaelwest.com.au

 

[WinkWink]

 

[pmbug]

Follow up report is more or less a summary of the story:

Bullion failures. ASIC disregards Senate and ignores whistleblower evidence - Michael West

Senators continue to probe the investigation into ABC Bullion by ASIC and auditors Delloite, querying the methods used and evidence ignored.

michaelwest.com.au

 

[Fatrat]

People never learn...

 

[CiscoKid]

If you don't hold it, you don't own it.

 

[Casey Jones]

If you don't hold it, you don't own it.

This should be expanded. $10,000 in metal - AT YOUR FINGERTIPS - can perhaps be worth more than $1 million in a non-allocated "vault" in "Switzerland." The metal in your hands, is what counts when what happens happens, and what's in your hand, counts.

The paper that gives you ownership to fungible gold in a space somewhere, maybe or maybe-not Switzerland...is really no different than stonk papers, giving "beneficial ownership."