The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused a precious metals company and its owner of running a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme that targeted mostly people at or near retirement age. 

The SEC's complaint alleges that Safeguard Metals LLC and its owner, Jeffrey Santulan, between 2017 and 2021, reached out to older Americans through direct calls and online advertisements on Google and Facebook to convince them to liquidate the securities in their retirement accounts, then invest the proceeds into gold and silver coins offered by his company. The SEC says that the pitches made to prospective buyers included many misleading statements. 

"For example, Safeguard’s sales agents stated that a 'Money Market Reform Law' allowed banks and brokerage firms to freeze retirement accounts in the event of a market downturn; that top financial experts in the United States were saying that another recession was coming very soon; and that when that happened, the investors’ accounts would be frozen and they would not be able to get any money out of their 401(k) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts ('IRAs')," said the SEC complaint.  "These statements were misleading because, among other things, the law that Safeguard referenced applied only to money market funds in rare circumstances and could not result in an individual’s entire account being frozen."

The SEC also said that the company told investors that the markup was between 4 to 23 percent based on the metal when, in fact, it was closer to 64 percent. According to the complaint, Safeguard obtained approximately $67 million from the sale of coins to more than 450 investors, and kept approximately $25.5 million in markups. Further, the complaint alleges, the CEO used the firm's LinkedIn page to show connections to fake profiles of prominent individuals in the securities industry indicating that they were associated with his company. 

"The federal securities laws prohibit deceptive conduct and material misrepresentations in the purchase or sale of securities," said Kathryn A. Pyszka, an associate director in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office. "We will take action when, as alleged, parties fraudulently induce investors to sell their securities through lies and deception."