Larry Bates Still Deceives Precious-Metals Customers
Dec 12th, 2011 | By Anne Trimble | Category: Breaking News, FAMC Victim Protection, Precious Metals, Scam Alert
Undelivered gold
Our record of opposition to Larry Bates, a major precious-metals dealer and renowned Christian financial advisor and radio host, has been long and steadfast. We were the first to warn his customers about his unethical and predatory business practices, and our exposure of Bates has led to a major investigation by the CBS TV news operation in his hometown of Memphis, among other investigations.
Yet despite continued exposure of his despicable practices, Bates continues to deceive his precious-metals customers by delaying and withholding deliveries of orders of gold and silver owed to some of them, strong-arming some customers and generally acting in an irresponsible and, in some cases, fraudulent manner. And he has extended his treacherous behavior by accusing us of fraud.
Bates continues to pursue his reprehensible and ungodly business model more than two years after we exposed them because clients of his firm, FAMC, were complaining to me about that very pattern of corporate behavior. As you may recall, at that time, in 2009, FAMC was sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars of paid-for quantities of gold and silver that had been purchased by clients but not shipped to them after extremely unreasonable periods of time had elapsed, in some cases many months.
Bates’ practices led to an investigation by the Mid-South Better Business Bureau and by WREG-TV, the CBS affiliate in Memphis.
Yet today, after I have worked with former and current Bates clients to change FAMC practices for more than two years, FAMC is still doing business basically the same way.
Larry Bates and FAMC are trusted names in precious metals, especially to the Christian market. Even the largest and most venerable companies in the precious-metals business look at FAMC as major competition. But despite his standing in the industry, Bates continues to frustrate his own customers and to pursue practices that are un-professional, at best, giving a bad name to every other metals dealer who also has Christian clients.
Bates not only continues unabated in abusing his own current and former customers but also has defamed me by accusing me of fraud and by alleging to third parties that I am simply a “disgruntled” former associate who is only seeking revenge.
Clearly, I’m disgruntled with him now! But I wasn’t unhappy representing Bates a few years ago until several current and former FAMC clients began complaining to me about the company’s lack of delivery of their precious-metals orders, many of them in the six figures in terms of dollar value.
And after attempting in 2009 to persuade Bates to change his practices from the inside, I left my association with FAMC and determined to exert pressure from the outside on behalf of my former FAMC clients and other clients of Bates’ company.
Bates’ current and former clients themselves have been attempting to do the same thing. One of them, for instance, turned in his frustration to a consumer-affairs columnist for the Ft. Myers News-Press. James Burhance of Bonita Springs, Fla., told Melanie Payne that FAMC waited a years before shipping to him his 2009 order of $85,589 for 176 Swiss-gold 20-franc coins.
And when Bates’ company did finally fulfill the order, Burhance told the columnist, FAMC shorted him $18,500 worth. Burhance continually contacted FAMC but was always put off with the excuse that the company was still waiting for shipments of the tardy coins from the mint. When Payne called on his behalf, however, she got through to Bates, who told her that he hadn’t shipped Burhance’s remaining coins to him because Bates had determined that silver wasn’t an advisable investment at the moment.
Instead, Bates said, FAMC was waiting for Burhance to approve its suggestion that he transfer the $18,500 due him into gold instead of silver. But, Burhance told Payne, he hadn’t heard from anyone at FAMC about the idea of switching to gold from silver until a phone call from Bates that arrived after Bates had talked to Payne.
Beyond representing reprehensible ethics in purely secular terms and within the financial advisory profession, there is an even more disappointing aspect to the behavior of Bates and his company: FAMC picks up much of its business simply because it represents itself as a Christian company that handles customers ethically and with spiritual insight. So their behavior is an affront to both God and man.”
His standard answer is always to put the blame on the client, or a staff member. Usually the client – Bates is waiting for shipping money, he is waiting for confirmation from the client, he is waiting for the client to make a decision, he is waiting……………… He takes no responsibility for his actions. As a former employee, I still have nightmares about that man! And, he does not cherry pick the coins. That’s just another excuse.
I was one of the very first consultants at FAMC in Ft Collins in 1985-86. Bates had just established FAMC about a year earlier after he had spent several years with another firm in that area. I brought in a number of good clients right away and after several months of observing I soon caught onto his tactics – the inevitable delays of shipping, delays in processing bank loans at SAFRA bank, “cherry picking” the coins by Larry because he supposedly cared so much about his clients, delays due to clients actions/inactions. It was never his fault if you listened to Bates. The guy is a total fraud, a con-man and actually he is quite proud of it. His two boys, Bob and Chuck, were just little boys then but apparently were gradually groomed to follow their father’s ways. I always liked is wife Barbara – a friendly southern lady, I feel quite sorry for her. I hope the lawsuit put Larry et al in prison.
I, too, worked for FAMC back in the 90’s and not only witnessed this practice of making clients wait long periods to receive their metals, which is absolutely inexcusable, but I also witnessed how “endtimes” scare tactics, the twisting of Scriptures, so-called “prophetic utterances,” and religious stroking were used to coerce people into buying metals. Yes, believers, as salt and light, are to forewarn others concerning the times they live in and how to be wise stewards, but in a biblically honorable manner that glorifies God. The Scriptures speak about those who cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of, as they in all covetousness use feigned words to make merchandise of people (2Pet. 2:2-3). Mr. Bates used his so-called profession of faith and the “Christian” conferences, radio shows, etc, he put on to exploit people’s fears of the times and their godly desires to be good stewards of the financial resources the Lord gives them. This pernicious exploitation in the name of the Lord has given many unbelievers, who can see right through his game (Luke 16:8), the occasion to blaspheme God, as they equate this type of religious scamming with Christianity.