Precious Metals Dealer Enforcement Actions Database

Gold IRA Companies Compared are judged on fees, terms and records. This page covers one part of the record: enforcement actions by regulators and courts that involve precious-metals dealers. It is a reference table with plain-English notes on how to read each row. It is not a ranking and it is not a verdict on any company.

Everything here comes from a page we opened ourselves, on the dates shown. Our general approach is explained in our company research methodology, and the way review sites earn money is explained in how gold IRA review sites make money.

How do you read an entry in this database?

The words used in an enforcement case matter a great deal. The same press release can describe a claim, an agreement or a court order. We use the following labels and keep them separate.

A government press release is the agency's own summary. When we could open the court order, we used it. When we could not, we say so in the row.

What enforcement actions have we confirmed?

Rows are grouped by regulator, then by date: CFTC actions first, then the Lear Capital state matters. The order is only a sequence. It says nothing about which companies are more or less reliable.

Defendant names are copied as the source states them. Dollar amounts are stated as the source states them. "Alleged" means the source describes a claim. "Ordered" means a court order or an agreement says so.

The Lear Capital row is repeated in more detail on the Lear Capital review, which also describes what we could not check.

What did each regulator say, in plain English?

Safeguard Metals (CFTC and states, 2022 to 2025)

The February 2022 complaint was brought by the CFTC together with state securities regulators. The CFTC release describes, as allegations, that the defendants told customers that traditional retirement investments were risky and sold them silver coins at hidden markups. Those were allegations when filed.

The later record is different in kind. According to the September 30, 2025 decision and Final Judgment, the court approved a Consent Order on October 20, 2023 (ECF 201). The documents say that order included findings that the defendants are liable for all violations of the Act, the regulations and various state laws alleged in the complaint, and permanently enjoined them. We did not open the Consent Order itself, so we rely on the later documents for its content. The decision then set restitution at $66,948,960 solicited minus $41,379,657 in metals transferred, which gives $25,569,303, and imposed a penalty of the same amount, both jointly and severally. Amounts paid in the parallel SEC case are credited against them. The CFTC release says 30 state regulators took part.

The SEC filed a parallel case, SEC v. Safeguard Metals LLC and Jeffrey Ikahn (f/k/a Jeffrey S. Santulan), No. 2:22-cv-00693, in the same court. According to SEC Litigation Release No. 26307 (May 9, 2025), a final judgment was entered on May 2, 2025, ordering joint and several disgorgement of $25,569,303, prejudgment interest of $4,821,263 and civil penalties of $25,569,303. The release says partial judgments by consent were entered on June 14, 2023 and permanently enjoined the defendants. The release does not include admission language.

Fisher Capital (CFTC, 2023)

This is a case where we cannot tell you the outcome. The April 2023 release states the claims as alleged. The docket snapshot we could open ends on November 14, 2023, and shows no judgment. Current status is not confirmed, because we could not access PACER or CourtListener. We found no later order, judgment or settlement on cftc.gov, but a later outcome may exist.

Crown Bullion, Bright Future Financial and Damien Moran (CFTC, 2023)

The release says the CFTC "alleges" the defendants misled people into buying metals through self-directed IRAs and then kept most of the money. The only court order we confirmed is a short-term restraining order from September 2023. A trade-news report points to a later penalty request, but we could not confirm a final judgment. Until we can, the outcome here is listed as not confirmed.

Regal Assets (CFTC and California, 2023 to 2024)

The CFTC release in September 2023 says the complaint alleged misuse of customer funds. In October 2024, the court entered default judgments. A default judgment is entered when a defendant fails to respond or defend; here the orders say no defendant appeared at the October 10, 2024 hearing. The CFTC release does not say whether the defendants admitted or denied the allegations, and neither do the orders we read. The release states that the defendants were ordered to pay, jointly and severally, over $21.9 million in restitution, plus civil monetary penalties, and permanently banned from registering with the CFTC and from trading in CFTC-regulated markets.

The amounts are not identical for each person. Each of the three orders sets restitution of $21,936,000.57 and makes each person's restitution joint and several with the others, with credit for amounts the others pay. The civil monetary penalties are separate: $21,936,000.57 for Regal Assets LLC, $3,512,441.63 for Mr. Gallagher and $1,856,906.58 for Ms. Donoso. The Gallagher order does not make his penalty joint and several with the others. We did not check whether any of these amounts has been paid.

Lear Capital (New York Attorney General, 2021 and 2022)

The 2021 lawsuit was the Attorney General's claim. The January 2022 release announces a settlement. A settlement is an agreement to resolve a case. It is not a court finding that the claims were true. For more, see the Lear Capital review.

What is in the joint federal and state warning?

On March 20, 2024, the CFTC, FINRA (the securities industry's self-regulator) and NASAA (the association of state securities regulators) announced a joint effort to warn retirees about precious-metals fraud (release 8881-24). It is a warning, not an enforcement action against any company, so it has no row above. The release says scammers tout overpriced metals and coins as "safe investments" but charge high markups, commissions and fees, and that these costs can make it impossible for victims to profit. It also describes a related caution from the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, NASAA and FINRA about self-directed IRAs: custodians or trustees of these accounts may offer only limited protections, and typically do not investigate the assets or the background of the promoter. The release points readers to an investor bulletin, "10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals," and a CFTC flier, "Lies Versus Facts: The Truth Behind Gold and Silver IRA Scams."

What is not in this database?

This list is short on purpose and incomplete by nature. Please read the limits before you rely on it.

• State actions we could not search. We did not search each state's securities regulator, attorney general or consumer office. Some of them publish orders only in their own systems.
• Private lawsuits. Class actions and suits between private parties are not tracked here. Our Goldco review describes a private class action settlement that we could only read about in secondary reports. It is not in this table because we did not open the court docket.
• Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints. These are customers' statements, not findings. Where a review page uses BBB information, it says how we saw it.
• Court dockets and orders. We could not access PACER or CourtListener and did not search state court systems. We did not open the Safeguard Metals Consent Order (ECF 201) itself, only the later documents that describe it. Later events in the cases above may exist that we did not see.
• Other federal agencies. We did not run a full search of the SEC, FTC, Department of Justice or FINRA databases. We opened one SEC litigation release (the Safeguard Metals parallel case) but did not search the SEC's other pages.
• Older cases. We have not compiled actions from before 2022.

Absence from this list does not mean a company has no record. It means only that we have not yet confirmed an action on a primary source. Being in this list is not a finding about any company beyond what its row states.

How do we pick entries, and how often do we update?

Our rule is simple. An action is added when we can open the regulator's or court's own page and read it. We then look for the latest outcome on that regulator's website and, where possible, in the court order. We do not add a company because it is well known. We copy names exactly as the source writes them, and we show dollar amounts only as stated.

We plan to review the table monthly. Each entry carries the date we last opened its sources. If a source moves or a case changes, the row is corrected and the "updated" date at the top of the page changes. See our corrections page to report a problem.

How can you check a dealer yourself?

The CFTC's precious metal frauds page says to check credentials and disciplinary history, and to contact the attorney general in the dealer's home state to see whether there are complaints. It also says retail coin dealers generally are not regulated by state or federal authorities, so buyers must do much of the research themselves. Our guide on how to verify a dealer walks through the search tools.

This page is general information, not legal or financial advice. If a decision turns on a company's record, a lawyer or a qualified financial professional can help you review the documents.