You may want to read the article from Mother's Day Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN):
http://www.startribune.com/local/121413199.html? Page=1&c=y
"Keith's dad had suffered a stroke in 1999. A seizure in October left him with memory and reasoning impairments, she said. His problems gradually worsened until he was hospitalized for two weeks in December as he recovered from cerebral bleeding.
Keith filed a lawsuit last month against Barber Coin, its president, Leonard Barber Jr., vice president of sales Robert Boyd and McNamara alleging that they cheated her father, a vulnerable adult, out of at least $65,768. The newspaper agreed not to name her father, who has a different surname, because he has cognitive impairments.
McNamara, 56, is a fast talker who invokes religion in his sales pitch. He has been convicted of check forgery, possessing counterfeit checks, theft and driving under the influence, but it hasn't stopped him from working at several Twin Cities coin dealers. He now is managing director at International Gold & Silver Exchange in downtown Minneapolis.
"I'm in recovery. I've got three years clean, " McNamara said.
After he left BCC in June, Keith said in her lawsuit, Boyd took over her dad's account and began "repositioning" his holdings, first selling gold and buying silver, then reversing the process.
Keith says her parents built their own home and never carried a mortgage until last year. Then she alleges that Boyd persuaded her dad to withdraw just over $174,000 from a reverse mortgage to buy more coins.
He bought some at huge markups, Keith's complaint says. For instance, she alleges that BCC sold him an 1862 half-dollar for $18,000 that appraisers valued at $4,000.
While Keith's father was in the hospital, BCC initiated transactions to convert some of her parents' gold in an individual retirement account to silver, the suit says. Her parents denied "knowingly" authorizing that.
Bloomington police say an investigation is pending. Boyd declined to comment.
McNamara said he conducted one transaction with Keith's father and gave him a good deal. He said what happened after that, though, "was absolutely atrocious." He said he's cooperating with police.
"I do have ethics and I do not believe in taking advantage of people, especially the elderly, " McNamara said.
Bergmann, Barber's attorney, issued a statement saying Keith's accusations appear to be based on "suspicion and misinformation." He said BCC, Barber and Boyd are cooperating with police.
"I know some things look bad. He's got some employees who had some bad records, " Bergmann said. But he said he expects Barber to prevail.
Bill Voss, a Texas lawyer helping victims of coin fraud, says the fallout from coin rip-offs is only beginning. With prices near record levels, coin companies are popping up left and right and people are buying.
But eventually, he said, they'll want to sell.
"When they start realizing that what they bought, they shouldn't have bought, and that they bought it way too high... I think there's going to be a major, major problem."
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