ABC: Firm Selling Gold Touted By Glenn Beck Under Investigation For Ripping Off Its Customers

[Turborama]

Run time: 08:03 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad5iu_dk9lc   Posted on YouTube: July 20, 2010 By YouTube Member: ABCNews Views on YouTube: 111   Posted on DU: July 21, 2010 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 549

 
The embedded video has an edited down version of the ABC investigation to fit in an interview with the man from Goldline.

Full ABC report without the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv5FJRiS3ng

Authorities Probe Goldline, Gold Firm Touted By Beck And Other Fox Talkers, For Alleged 'Rip Off'

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The symbiotic relationship is on full display during broadcasts of Beck's daily television show, and on a promotional video Beck shot for Goldline where he said, "The people that I trust are the people at Goldline. And you can talk to the people on the phone. They're not going to pressure you. If it's the right thing for you and your family and you want some insurance, trust the people at Goldline." And on Goldline's website, where visitors can hear Beck's testimonials. And in the direct pitch from Goldline sales associates over the phone, where one recently told a caller, "Now just so you know, Glenn Beck is a client here. He's been with us several years."

But the potent blend of conservative talk and gold sales has brought scrutiny, initially from the political left. U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, called the relationship between Goldline and the conservative talk shows an "unholy alliance."

"There is an unholy alliance, I call it, between the commentators on Fox News and Fox News' advertising policies to sell ads to these guys," Weiner said. "If you're going to advocate for buying gold, it's certainly your right to do that. But you should tell your viewers there's a dumb way and a smart way to buy gold And very often those advertisements are for a very dumb way to buy gold."

Weiner's congressional office conducted its own investigation into the firm's sales practices and said his complaints about Goldline are not just a matter of politics. Weiner told ABC News that neither the sale of gold nor the promotion on conservative broadcasts is the real problem. The rip off, as he called it, was in Goldline's push to get consumers to buy gold coins instead of pure gold. "Once they get people on the phone, they basically steer them into these so-called collectible coins and that's where the rip off becomes really profound," Weiner told ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross.

Full article: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=11197000

[valerief]

1. Beck was blinded by all the filthy lucre they offered him, too. nt

[Po_d Mainiac]

2. No, he is going blind from an anal-ocular nerve disorder. n/t

[Frisbee]

3. I'm shocked!, Shocked, I tell you! n/t