Suit Filed Against Financial Talker Over Gold-Silver Sales

Larry Bates

IRN-USA RADIO NETWORK syndicated host LARRY BATES and his FIRST AMERICAN MONETARY CONSULTANTS have been hit with an $80 million class action lawsuit claiming that BATES duped buyers into buying gold, saying it was God's will, and that the firm did not deliver the plaintiffs' full orders of gold and silver, report NBC affiliate WMC-TV/MEMPHIS and the MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL.

The suit says that BATES, a former Democratic TENNESSEE State Assemblyman, through his radio show, website, and conferences and using Bible verses in his pitch, fraudulently convinced people to buy gold and silver and then withheld delivery.  Defendants include BATES, IRN-USA, and "senior staff economist" BARRY DENISON; the plaintiffs are represented by attorney J.. HOUSTON GORDON.

DAMIAN ORLOWSKI of CHICAGO and LYNN CECHIN of LEWISVILLE, TX filed the suit last WEDNESDAY (12/28) in federal district court in MEMPHIS alleging that ORLOWSKI ordered $100,000 in gold and $200,000 worth of silver from BATES' firm, but only received less-valuable 80-pound silver blocks; CECHIN says she paid for $75,000 in gold that was never received, and while she later received a refund after complaining to the state of TENNESSEE, she lost interest on the money. BATES' firm has also been sued in MASSACHUSETTS and NORTH CAROLINA in similar cases.

BATES told WMC-TV that he had not seen the lawsuit but that the allegations were "pure nonsense" motivated by a disgruntled former employee and political opponents.

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