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West Palm metals broker gets prison for scam

By Palm Beach Business.com

WEST PALM BEACH — A West Palm Beach precious metals trader has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for his part in a precious metals investing scam that took investors for $1.3 million.

Richard Eugene Engel, 38, of West Palm Beach and a trader with a now-defunct company called the Bullion Trading Group, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail. Federal Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced Engel on Thursday.

According to statements and court documents, Engel represented himself as a broker buying gold, silver, palladium and other precious metals on behalf of private investors. Engel and three other defendants routinely lied to their clients, including making bogus margin calls, to get them to pump more money into the firm.

Instead of investing the clients’ money, Engel and the other defendants spent it on themselves, according to court records.