gold and precious metals trading company headquarters los angeles california u.s. area served united states and canada website goldline.com goldline llc is a retail seller of gold and silver coins and other precious metals for investors and collectors . 1 headquartered in los angeles california goldline has more than 350 employees and an estimated 737 million in 2010 revenues . 2 goldline traces its formation to a deak & co. subsidiary created in 1960 a firm that in the late 1970s was the largest storefront gold retailer and later went into bankruptcy in the 1980s . the company was later bought and sold several times in the ensuing years . goldline advertises on several television channels and also sponsors some conservative radio talk shows . contents 1 history 2 business operations 2.1 overview 2.2 marketing 3 business policies 3.1 sales 3.2 buy back 3.3 prices 3.4 government and private gold 3.5 collectible coins versus bullion 4 investigations and lawsuits 4.1 2006 4.2 2010 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit 3 4 nicholas deak a hungarian immigrant founded deak & co. in 1939 and served in the oss precursor to the cia during world war ii . 5 6 deak & co. specialized in foreign exchange gold coins and bullion and was considered a pioneer in the business . 5 by the early 1980s the company was the largest retailer of gold bullion and the oldest and largest retail foreign exchange dealer in the united states . 7 8 while deak described himself as a gold bug 9 the company felt the strain of growing too rapidly during the gold economic bubble which burst by 1982 . 8 at that point they planned on expanding into the wholesale market offering services to companies instead of the public . 8 the company was the country s leading seller of south africa s krugerrand before it was pressured to halt sales because of south africa s apartheid system in 1985 . 5 10 11 12 in 1984 deak & co. faced allegations from the president s commission on organized crime that they laundered money for latin american drug traffickers facilitated the lockheed bribery scandals and smuggled currency from the philippines . 13 14 15 16 as a result shortly thereafter deak & co. declared bankruptcy in order to reorganize . 13 17 in 1985 the company was purchased by a singapore lawyer for 52 million the most valued asset was deak s swiss bank . 18 19 in 1986 the foreign exchange and gold business was sold to australia s martin properties ltd. later renamed deak morgan 20 for 12 million . 21 22 23 in the following year the company was transferred to new zealand based nzi and expanded its gold coin dealerships by one third . 24 at the same time deak investor services inc. changed its name to deak international goldline ltd. 3 due to the 1987 worldwide market crash the company floundered 25 and was sold to the london based thomas cook group in august 1990 for 10 12 million . 26 27 several months afterward deak international goldline us ltd. was bought by a mark precious metals inc a wholesaler dealer in precious metals thereby adding a retail presence . 3 28 in 1992 deak international goldline us ltd. changed its name to goldline international inc. and mark albarian became president . in 1994 goldline acquired the assets of gold & silver emporium 3 and in 1998 acquired dreyfus precious metals inc. the precious metal brokerage and storage subsidiary of the dreyfus corporation . 3 in 2005 the a mark corporation sold goldline to three investor groups each of which acquire minority stakes prudential capital goldline management and goldline s former chairman . 29 30 two years later goldline moved its headquarters and trading floor across santa monica california to offices at the water garden complex . 3 in 2009 civc a chicago based private equity company acquires controlling interest in goldline by purchasing the stakes owned by prudential capital and goldline s former chairman . goldline management also increases its stake . this transaction was worth over 50 million . 3 31 32 business operations edit overview edit goldline is a retail seller of gold coins silver coins platinum bullion bars and bullion coins special collections currencies and other precious metals for investors and collectors . 1 according to the los angeles business journal in 2009 goldline had more than 300 employees and sales revenue of 825 million which the newspaper said made it the 6th fastest growing company in los angeles county california for 2010 33 34 david lazarus the business columnist for the los angeles times said revenues are expected to climb to 1 billion in 2010 2011 . 35 marketing edit goldline advertises through a variety of marketing channels including the internet radio and television . former director of the united states mint and democratic congressman jay w. johnson was goldline s television spokesperson from june 2009 until his death in october of that same year . 36 john mercanti the retired 12th chief engraver of the u.s. mint was also a goldline spokesperson . 37 goldline s television advertising includes cable networks such as cnn cnbc fox news history international and fox business . goldline has also been the sponsor of the shows of a number of conservative radio and television hosts including the american advisor and the glenn beck program 38 the laura ingraham show the fred thompson show 39 the huckabee report 40 the lars larson show the monica crowley show the mark levin show and the alan colmes show . 41 in 2009 goldline incorrectly labeled glenn beck as a paid spokesman on its website which raised concerns with his employer fox news which prohibit such a relationship ; they later corrected it to radio sponsor . goldline s then ceo mark albarian has appeared on beck s radio show the company was the exclusive sponsor of beck s 2009 comedy tour . prior to his fox news employment beck had appeared in a goldline website video . the late night satirical television program the daily show with jon stewart has skewered the relationship 42 and in 2010 some alleged that there is a conflict of interest which both beck and goldline deny . 43 44 in 2010 then congressman new york representative anthony weiner criticized the advertising relationship between goldline and certain conservative commentators calling it an unholy alliance . goldline maintained there was nothing improper about these sponsorships . 41 business policies edit sales edit the company sells over the phone via internet and in person to customers responding to an advertisement . it also calls past customers when new collectibles arrive but does not cold call prospective clients . 35 45 purchases are made by check credit card cash or wire transfer . 46 47 buy back edit the law does not allow precious metal dealers such as goldline to guarantee a buy back . the customer will pay a 1 % liquidation fee on the bid price of the coin the price goldline is willing to buy back the coin before discounting for the fee . for example if goldline sells a coin for 1 500 and their bid price is 1 200 the seller would receive 1 188 1 200 12 . 48 goldline will consider purchasing coins sold by other companies but generally their offer will be less than equivalent coins they sell originally . 48 prices edit price of 1 troy ounce 31 g of gold since 1960 in nominal us dollars and inflation adjusted by consumer price index cpi u. albarian told the new york times that prices range from as low as 5 % for bullion coins and as high as 54 % for unusual and historical coins . 49 while giving goldline an a rating according to the new york times and declared that it was standing by the company as it was a company with not that many complaints and that there was a remarkable difference in how each one addressed complaints when it came to bbb complaints still wrote guaranteed profits are an illusion in conjunction with certain advertising campaigns . 50 51 new york representative anthony weiner accused goldline of overcharging with average markups of 90 % to 152 % . 41 49 52 53 54 55 dylan ratigan a television financial commentator stated that he agreed that goldline was involved in manipulating the public . 56 goldline also offers a price guarantee program if the price of selected coins not bullion declines within two weeks the buyer may request the difference be used to purchase coins of the same type not a refund so long as it is done within the allowable period of 14 days . 57 government and private gold edit executive order 6102 in its sales literature goldline has drawn a distinction between what it calls government gold and private gold . 48 during the great depression in order to stabilize the dollar then backed by gold and to avoid a run on the banks u.s. president franklin d. roosevelt issued a 1933 executive order requiring citizens to surrender their gold for which they were reimbursed at a price set by the government itself . 46 58 goldline stated that private gold defined as coins that were explicitly exempted from the 1933 order because of their collector value 59 would be less likely to be recalled in the future if the government followed the precedent set by roosevelt thereby possibly increasing the desirability of collector grade coins . 48 the roosevelt order resulted in only one failed prosecution and the dollar is no longer backed by gold thereby putting into question why the government would again ask for its surrender . 46 58 rep. weiner has expressed doubt of the likelihood of a future recall and the american numismatic association said it was a non issue . 44 46 60 the santa monica and l.a. county investigators alleged that the distinction is used to spur the sale of the more profitable collectible coins . 44 goldline includes a replica of the 1933 order in their sales material . 61 62 when asked about this by george stephanopoulos on abc s good morning america 63 scott carter the executive vice president of goldline said he didn t know if the government would again confiscate bullion but some saw a parallel between 2010 and 1933 . 64 collectible coins versus bullion edit american gold eagle because of collectible coins higher markups and mention of past government confiscation of bullion in goldline sales literature weiner accused the company of recommending rare collectible coins over less profitable bullion . some customers prefer collectibles because they are recognizable government issued coins and may be less expensive . 65 investigations and lawsuits edit this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . december 2010 2006 edit in a july 2010 article 66 consumer reports reported that a goldline sales rep advised one of its reporters liquidate their ira and retirement account in order to have 20 % of their portfolio in gold . 67 this related to an october 2006 consent order in which goldline voluntarily agreed to return 217 000.00 to a missouri elderly couple in exchange for the products purchased for the company after the missouri securities division alleged that the couple was pressured by a goldline salesperson to liquidate all their investments and put them into gold . the missouri secretary of state securities division investigated and alleged that the company s agent was acting as an unregistered investment advisor but the consent order did not judge whether the accusation was true or false . 68 goldline sales staff are not legally allowed to provide investment advice . 41 44 69 2010 edit the cover of representative anthony weiner s report