Coin Seller Collects a Sentence: A Newport...
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Coin Seller Collects a Sentence: A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of mail fraud in connection with his operation of a company that sold investment-quality coins at grossly exaggerated prices in a telemarketing scheme.
John Pace, 52, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when he appears in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana next month for sentencing.
Pace founded Schoolhouse Coins in Costa Mesa, which in 1985 and 1986 defrauded the public by selling as investments coins whose prices were far in excess of their value, according to federal prosecutors. It also exaggerated the rates of appreciation to create a sense that the coins were gaining much more in value than they actually were in an attempt to persuade investors to buy more of them, prosecutors said.
By 1986, Schoolhouse Coins had solicited investments of $9.5 million, prosecutors said.
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