"Silver Dealer Ordered to Pay $146 Million for Vanishing Half a Million Coins in Fraudulent Scheme"

Precious metals dealer Robert Higgins has been ordered to pay $146 million in damages after over half a million silver coins went missing in a fraudulent scheme. Higgins convinced nearly 200 investors to buy and store American Eagle Silver coins through his companies, but it remains unclear if the coins ever existed. Higgins ran a deceptive scheme and distributed false account statements, resulting in the ban of his companies and a lifetime industry ban for himself. This incident adds to a series of scams in the precious metals industry.