Bankrupt gold dealer Rosland owes customers $49 million for metal never delivered, 97-year-old couple sues pitchman Erik von Detten over coins bought at nearly 60 percent above spot price

A 97-year-old Los Angeles man and his 85-year-old wife are suing a former Disney actor and the gold dealer he fronted, after paying $2.15 million of retirement savings for coins worth about $1.36 million — a markup of nearly 60 percent over spot. The dealer, Rosland Capital, filed for Chapter 11 in July owing customers $49 million for metal they paid for and never received.

Norman and Sheila Greenberg's lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in May, names Erik von Detten, the actor whose voice and face carried Rosland's commercials, and the company itself. It alleges financial elder abuse, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and conversion. The couple contacted Rosland in the summer of 2020 after advertisements stoked fears about the safety of their wealth, told von Detten they had around $2 million in retirement accounts and knew little about gold. The suit describes a boiler-room sales operation aimed at seniors through television, direct mail and internet advertising.

In October 2020 the Greenbergs bought 1,328 quarter-ounce Lady Liberty coins for just under $1 million through IRA rollovers; weeks later they bought another 1,499 coins for $1.15 million. The coins went to a Delaware depository rather than to them, leaving the couple paying storage and account fees on metal they had overpaid for by roughly 400 ounces. Von Detten, according to the complaint, earned their trust so thoroughly that they accepted his recommendations without question.

The unsecured creditors' committee in Rosland's bankruptcy is now pursuing von Detten's records, arguing he played an instrumental part in the debtor's business and its collapse. The committee's lawyers say the Greenbergs' story is one of hundreds, that the company preyed on a vulnerable population while its ability to deliver was collapsing, and that it lied to customers about how their money was used. The committee has subpoenaed records from Rosland's founder and CEO Marin Aleksov and from IRA custodian Goldstar Trust Company; a judge signed off on the Goldstar examination on October 21.

The commercials ran for years on Fox News and Newsmax, fronted by actor William Devane urging retirees to roll their IRAs into precious metals as a hedge against inflation and instability. Fox News Network is the only creditor named in Rosland's initial bankruptcy petition, owed more than $1.9 million. The spokesman took the fee; the customers took the delivery risk; the network, at least, will be made whole in the queue.