Man who scammed gold-coin buyers wins court ruling lowering restitution by $500G
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20081215/NEWS/81215016/1001/RSS09
Man who scammed gold-coin buyers wins court ruling lowering restitution by
$500G
By KEN SERRANO
Staff Writer
December 15, 2008
MIDDLESEX COUNTY -A state appeals court has ruled in
favor of a convicted stock swindler who claimed he
owed his victims only $600,000 in restitution for a
scam dating back more than 20 years instead of $1.1
million as prosecutors contended.
Armand DeAngelis, 51, who worked at a penny-stock
business in East Brunswick when he swindled six
investors in the 1980s, is now serving time in a
federal prison in Florida.
In the more recent case, DeAngelis pleaded guilty
in March 2005 to defrauding customers in a gold coin
scheme. Claiming to be a born-again Christian,
DeAngelis advertised his price-inflated, supposedly
rare gold coins in Christian magazines and claimed
to be the "leading Christian gold dealer" on his
company's Web site, federal authorities contended
in a 2005 indictment.
He was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison and
is currently serving his sentence at a low-security
facility in southern Florida.
On May 31, 1991, DeAngelis was convicted after a
trial in Superior Court, New Brunswick, before Judge
Richard Plechner of defrauding customers of Kobrin
Securities Inc., which had an office on Route 18.
The jury convicted him of 10 offenses between 1981
and 1985 involving highly speculative stocks.
DeAngelis drew a two-week term in the Middlesex
County Adult Correction Center and was ordered to
repay the customers he cheated. Plechner also placed
him on probation for 10 years.
In an oral decision, Plechner determined that
DeAngelis had to repay a minimum of $600,000. But
the order against him, signed months later,
highlighted a $1.1 million restitution amount.
The appeal centered on whether DeAngelis violated
the terms of his probation for not repaying the
full amount.
DeAngelis repaid $682,000 by the time his
probationary term expired in 2002. But the state
Attorney General's office, which tried the 1991
case, argued that he should have repaid $1.1
million.
Because of some confusion over the amount or
restitution and DeAngelis' obligations and because
of Plechner's retirement, another judge took up
the case.
DeAngelis was found to have violated probation
and was sentenced to three years in prison.
He was due to serve that sentence after getting
out of federal prison. His federal release date
is scheduled for May 21, 2011.
But the two-judge panel on Monday, Dec. 15,
overturned that three-year sentence, determining
that he made full restitution.
Part of Plechner's reasoning for the minimum
amount of restitution was that DeAngelis was not
alone guilty. The company he worked for, Kobrin
Securities, was convicted of bilking three
investors out of $1.6 million, money that had
been mishandled by DeAngelis.
Barrett Kobrin, the penny stock company's
president, was acquitted of three counts of
fraud by the same jury that convicted DeAngelis
and the company.
The company was closed by court order
in 1985.
Ken Serrano: 732-565-7212;
kser...@MyCentralJersey.com
..
Lorrie S.
worthless garbage from him for their stupidity.
"Arizona Coin Collector" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:moidnfKwyelXd9vU...@earthlink.com...
PC
> Why is he being punished? They should punish the fools that bought
> worthless garbage from him for their stupidity.
>
Ignoring the fact that you post only to inflame, I too, was wondering
what law he acutally broke.
Charging too much for gold coins? Heck, I can put up an eBay auction
for a common cent with a BIN of $8000 dollars. If someone buys it
they are pretty dumb and maybe I should be ashamed for taking an
obscene amount of money for it but what law have I broken? Is it
becuase he claimed they were rare? Define rare.
If I claim I am the leading coin dealer in a one mile radius and lo'
and behold there is actually another dealer within a mile who does
more volume, pulls in higher profits, and is accredited have I broken
a law? If I claim a poll shows me as the top coin dealer in the
midwest but the only respondents were family members have I broken a
law?
The article does not make it clear what law he broke.