A federal judge has frozen the assets of a Utah rare-coin dealer after state officials accused the business of defrauding hundreds of people in aprecious metals Ponzi scheme.

A civil complaint was filed Thursday by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Gaylen Dean Rust and his company, Rust Rare Coin Inc.

The Utah Department of Commerce said in a Friday news release that Rust had fraudulently obtained more than $170 million from people in Utah and16 other states in a scheme involving silver.

Rust told investors the silver was kept at a depository in Salt Lake City or Los Angeles - even though the company never purchased or storedanything of that value at those locations.

And the investor money was not used to buy silver, either.

"Instead, the defendants misappropriated investor funds," the news release states, "and used these funds to make payments to other investors inthe manner of a Ponzi scheme, transfer money to other companies owned by Rust, and pay personal expenses."

His family was also swept up in one of Utah's biggest news stories, the forgers and eventual mail bombings of Mark Hofmann. Rust'sfather, Alvin, paid $150,000 to try to get the "McLellin Collection," papers allegedly written by early Mormon apostle turned apostate WilliamMcLellin.

To read the complete article, see:
Utah rare coin dealer accused of defrauding investors in a $170 million Ponzischeme involving silver (https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/11/16/utah-rare-coin-dealer/)