{"id":48683,"date":"2021-12-16T15:43:43","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T23:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=48683"},"modified":"2021-12-16T15:44:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T23:44:45","slug":"l-a-man-guilty-of-8-3-million-ancient-slag-scam-involving-precious-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=48683","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Man Guilty of $8.3 Million “Ancient Slag” Scam Involving Precious Metals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A resident of the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles plead guilty \"\"Thursday to defrauding more than 100 investors out of $8.3 million through a scheme that sold \u201cancient slag,\u201d officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the mining waste byproduct that supposedly contained precious metals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michael Godfree, 80, plead guilty to one count of mail fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

In total, Godfree caused losses of approximately $8.3 milli0n to his victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 TMAC was dissolved in 2015, but its operations were largely taken over by Precious Metals of North America Inc., another of Godfree\u2019s companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt scheduled a May 12 sentencing hearing. Godfree\u00a0 is facing up to 20 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 According to his plea agreement, from 2011 to November 2017, Godfree schemed to defraud victim-purchasers of material he identified as \u201cancient slag and \u201cgold ore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Godfree was co-founder of The Minerals Acquisition Company (TMAC), a Pasadena-based outfit that offered to sell slag to victims who were told the company would be able to extract precious metals from this slag, which was generated from copper mining. <\/span><\/p>\n

TMAC sold ton-quantities of the slag with promises of refining the material and recovering precious metals.<\/span><\/p>\n

TMAC provided victims with supposedly attorney-certified \u201cCertificates of Title\u201d that purported to transfer ownership of the slag to victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\" Godfree fraudulently induced the victims to buy the \u201cancient slag\u201d by falsely <\/span>promising that the \u201cancient slag\u201d TMAC was selling was valuable because it contained precious metals. He said a process would soon be finalized and available that could extract the precious metals supposedly in the slag.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, Godfree and TMAC did not actually own most of the slag they sold, there was not a commercially viable process for extracting precious metals from the slag, and the business operation had not been endorsed by a lawyer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acting on Godfree\u2019s false promises, victims sent the company money by mailing checks to the TMAC offices in Pasadena and by wiring money to accounts that Godfree controlled. Godfree used the funds to pay for his personal expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI investigated this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A resident of the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles plead guilty
\nThursday to defrauding more than 100 investors out of $8.3 million through a scheme that sold \u201cancient slag,\u201d officials stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"\nL.A. 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