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Northwest Territorial Mint fraudsters get years in prison
$30 Million in Missing Gold Bars, a Couple on the Lam from the FBI, and a Corgi Nicknamed Nugget: The Inside story of a Precious Metal Ponzi Scheme
By Lukas I. Alpert
MarketWatch, New York
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
A precious metals dealer who recently went on the lam after being convicted in a $30 million Ponzi scheme involving gold and silver bars has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
Bernard Ross Hansen, 61, and his vault manager and girlfriend, Diane Renee Erdmann, 49, were found guilty by a federal jury in July 2021 of defrauding over 3,000, mostly-elderly customers out of more than $30 million in a gold and silver bullion investment scheme.
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Prime Mining Intercepts 62 gpt Gold and 978 gpt Silver over 3.6 Meters
in Step-Out Drilling at Guadalupe East Deposit in Mexico
Company Announcement
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prime Mining Corp. (TSX-V: PRYM, OTCQB: PRMNF, Frankfurt: 04V3) announces additional Phase 2 drill results from 12 step-out drill holes at the Guadalupe East deposit in Mexico. Guadalupe East is one of eight known gold-silver deposits that comprise the current resource at Los Reyes.
22GE-53 has four intercepts:
-- 61.99 grams per tonne gold and 977.6 gpt silver over 3.6 meters estimated true width and 9.67 gpt gold and 314.0 gpt silver over 1.1 m estimated true width.
-- 9.67 gpt gold and 314.0 gpt silver over 1.1 meters etw.
-- 3.01 gpt gold and 220.0 gpt silver over 1.0 meter etw.
-- 5.90 gpt gold and 341.0 gpt silver over 0.7 meters etw. ...
Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Kunz commented: "The high-grade drill results reported today will continue to expand the resource potential at Guadalupe East considerably. We are encouraged by multiple intercepts of high-grade gold-silver mineralization being encountered in individual drill holes on the west end of this area. We await assay results from more step-out drill holes and expect to report these results as soon as they become available.
Ongoing drilling has now defined the Guadalupe East vein group length over 420 meters and the total strike length of the Guadalupe East vein system now over 1,000 metres.” ...
... For the remainder of the announcement:
The pair failed to show up for their original sentencing hearing in April and went on the lam for 11 days before being caught by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at a motel north of Seattle with three loaded handguns, boxes of collectible coins, and a pet corgi nicknamed Nugget in their car, authorities said.
"Every day he was on the run was one more free day," investigators say Hansen told them after he was arrested, according to court filings.
The couple finally faced the music Monday, with Hansen receiving an 11-year sentence and Erdmann five years. Hansen was ordered to pay $33.7 million in restitution and Erdmann $32.1 million. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
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