Federal agents raided the downtown Minneapolis offices of International Rarities Corp. on Wednesday, seeking evidence of securities fraud involving a failed effort to expand the coin firm nationally.
Feds raid offices of Minneapolis coin firm
A spokesman said investigators sought information about a securities offering.
September 9, 2011 at 2:32AM
The Star Tribune reported in May that a number of International Rarities' coin buyers were pitched shares in a Nevada company called International Rarities Holdings (IRH). Coin dealer David Marion organized IRH as the parent company of International Rarities Corp. (IRC), the coin business he's operated since its former owner died of a drug overdose in 2000.
Private offering documents for the holding company say it was seeking to raise $10 million to take the firm public. Investor Tom Randall, of Harris, invested $25,000 in 2009. He said Marion told him at the time that the public offering would take place within 90 days, and that early investors could expect to reap as much as $15 for every $1 share.
Randall said he's been trying to rescind his purchase, and has complained to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Minnesota attorney general's office also is investigating consumer complaints about IRC's coin sales.
Many coin dealers have drawn complaints about unscrupulous sales practices. International Rarities, in particular, has a legacy of hiring ex-cons. The company has employed at least two dozen people with criminal records that ranged from serial drunken driving to drug crimes, fraud, forgery and bank robbery.
Search warrant papers relating to the raid of IRC have not yet been made public. Blois Olson, a company spokesman, said it's his understanding that the raid involved the sale of securities, "nothing more."
IRC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Aug. 19, seeking to reorganize. The filings say Marion stepped down as CEO and president in mid-July, and International Rarities is now managed by Stephen Hastings, a turnaround specialist.
The bankruptcy petition says the firm brought in $24 million in 2009, but just $15.7 million in 2010. The bankruptcy filing listed just $1.35 million in assets and $3 million in debts, which included promissory notes, unfulfilled coin orders and rescission claims arising from the stock sale.
Ex-wife back working at firm
Marion was not available for comment Thursday. But his ex-wife, Dana Golden, was back working at the firm this week as an unpaid volunteer after having been fired by Marion in 2005, shortly after she filed for divorce. She's got a lot at stake. Bankruptcy records list her as an IRC creditor with a security agreement for $1.3 million related to her 2009 divorce.
The divorce papers were sealed by agreement of the parties, but the newspaper petitioned the court to open them.
According to court records, Marion graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in speech communications, and landed in the coin business in 1991 after working as a stockbroker, sales manager for a Wall Street brokerage, sales trainer and motivational speaker.
He met Golden the following year at a health club where she worked. They married 11 months later, and traveled widely, spent lavishly on jewelry, clothes, personal trainers and other comforts. Their home in Shorewood and a vacation home in Prescott, Ariz., were together valued at about $2 million in 2009.
Golden filed for divorce in 2005. In the four-year legal battle, she said Marion had been diagnosed as a pathological gambler and a drug addict. Financial records filed during the divorce show that Marion averaged more than $800,000 a year in income from 2003 to 2006, including pay and distributions from his company and six-figure commissions from Marc One Numismatics, IRC's coin wholesaler in Newport Beach, Calif.
The judge awarded Golden both homes, $2,028 a month in child support, and nearly $29,500 a month in alimony, which has gradually dropped to $23,667 a month. Marion also had to pay insurance and other expenses, along with $846,315 over 10 years to "equalize" the marital estate.
Dana Goldin Marion legally changed her name to Dana Golden on July 14. She said in her divorce papers that she owned 50 percent of IRC until 2003, when Marion "purchased" her stock "for liability purposes." She said she left her part-time office administration job there in 2005.
In a telephone interview Thursday, she said she was back working at the business, without pay, to help Marion.
Dan Browning • 612-673-4493
No fatalities have been reported among the 80 passengers and crew members on board, though 18 were injured.
