State Secures Guilty Pleas In Long Island Coin Scam Case

The two corporations, U.S. Rare Coin Brokers, Inc. and Historic Collectibles, Inc. of Port Jefferson, New York, each pled guilty to violations of the General Business Law § 352-c(5), a class E felony. Two men – Paul M. Blaney, 51, of Brookhaven and Robert Snyder, 48, of Port Jefferson – each pled guilty to Violations of the General Business Law § 352-c(1), a misdemeanor. The two were also permanently barred from the business.

Blaney and Snyder operated U.S. Rare Coin Brokers, Inc. and Historic Collectibles, Inc. solely for the purpose of engaging in a telemarketing scheme to dupe consumers in New York and across the country. The corporations acted as "boiler rooms" by using telemarketers who identified themselves as brokers to make unsolicited telephone calls to potential customers and pressured persistently until they agreed to invest.

The brokers used carefully scripted "pitches," containing material lies and omissions, to sell coins that they fraudulently represented were of a particular grade and value in the open market. In reality, the coins were grossly over-graded and over-priced. Some of the coins were worth less than ten percent of the price charged by defendants. It is estimated that from September 2001 through May 2003, thousands of people from across the country purchased coins from the defendants.

A restitution fund of over $600,000 from funds forfeited by the defendants has been established. The restitution fund will be administered by the Suffolk County Department of Probation.

Spitzer thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for its assistance during the investigation.

The criminal case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Ricardo E. Velez under the direction of Deputy Chief Kevin Suttlehan of the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau. Assistant Attorney General Lynn Goodman handled the forfeiture action.

The case was investigated by New York State Police Investigators James Perino, Bruce Schwartz, Charlotte Francis, William Hodge, and Gregory Najac under the supervision of Senior Supervising Investigator Eliezer Roman, and Forensic Accountant/Investigator John Serrapica and Investigator John Negus under the supervision of Deputy Chief Investigator Hank Lemons.