James Turk, founder and chairman of GoldMoney.com and co-author of The Coming Collapse of the Dollar, in a recent editorial questioned the integrity of iShares Silver Trust, the largest silver exchange traded fund (ETF). Turk makes a lengthy analysis that should be read by any silver investor considering a large investment in iShares.

Cmigs, a seller of physical gold bullion and silver bullion, advocates investors taking delivery of their investments. At one time, the dollar was “as good as gold,” until President Franklin Roosevelt made the dollar no longer redeemable in gold specie.

According to a Department of Justice press release, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has indicted two companies operating a digital currency business and their owners on “charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.”

The indictment of the two companies is not a condemnation of all digital-gold companies, but it is evidence that the federal government is aware of digital-gold transactions, despite them being miniscule in world business.

Resourceinvestor.com says that 42 persons are now involved in a class action lawsuit against a conglomerate of gold coin telemarketers from Beaumont, Texas. The plaintiffs are now asking for $1 billion in damages. The outcome will be interesting, to say the least.

For decades, telemarketers have promoted real, but sometimes purported, numismatic and collectible coins to investors. Often, the coins are priced well above the market. We have talked to investors who have paid double the value of the coins that they purchased.

Some telemarketers openly disclose that they are marking up their coins 30%. Sadly, many investors are so unsophisticated that they do not know that 30% markups are unreasonable. Other telemarketers conceal the actual value of the coins, often comparing the prices of the coins they sell with prices in the late 1980s when the market was vastly different.

Still more sadly, many buyers fall for sales pitches that assert certain coins are “non-confiscatable.” As our expose Myths, Misunderstandings, and Outright Lies explains, there is no such thing as a “non-confiscatable” coin. Investors who have not read our Myths, Misunderstandings, and Outright Lies are urged to do so.