JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – An online business specializing in buying and selling precious metals could face millions of dollars in civil penalties for defrauding Missouri investors.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s Securities Division alleges the company Liberty Gold and Silver and four of its agents offered and sold at least $760,000 in unregistered homemade “silver and gold certificates” to six Missouri investors, including four elderly residents from Warrensburg, Independence, and Oak Grove. The suspected investment scam ran between April 2018 and August 2020.
According to the order from the securities division, the person behind Liberty Gold and Silver, identified as Robert Craig Bridgforth, used graphics, images, and statements on his website to make false claims that his investments were backed by currency minted from the U.S. Treasury.
In addition to offering these phony investments to Missourians, Bridgforth is also accused of making numerous material misstatements and omissions, and engaging in a Ponzi-like scheme in violation of the Missouri Securities Act.
The other three agents named in the order—Ashley Wegener, Dustin Raysik, and Bryan Cochran—allegedly introduced the Missouri investors to Bridgforth and received commissions for doing so.
The securities division has asked Missouri Securities Commissioner David Minnick for a judgment of more than $4 million…
