Replies

Criminal conviction

In 1999, Japanese fraud investigators accused Armstrong of collecting money from Japanese investors, improperly commingling these funds with funds from other investors, and using the fresh money to cover losses he had incurred while trading.[9] United States prosecutors called it a three-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.[10] Allegedly assisting Armstrong in his scheme was the Republic New York Corporation, which produced false account statements to reassure Armstrong’s investors. In 2001, the bank agreed to pay $606 million as restitution for its part in the scandal.[10]

Armstrong was indicted in 1999 and ordered by Judge Richard Owen to turn over fifteen million dollars in gold bars and antiquities bought with the fund’s money; the list included bronze helmets and a bust of Julius Caesar.[11][12] Armstrong produced some of the items but claimed the others were not in his possession; this led to several contempt of court charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and CFTC, for which he served seven years in jail until he reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors.[13][14][15] Under the terms of the agreement, Armstrong admitted to deceiving corporate investors and improperly commingling client funds—actions that according to prosecutors resulted in commodities losses of more than $700 million—and was sentenced to five years in prison.[16][11]

Armstrong was released from federal custody on 2 September 2011 after serving a total of eleven years behind bars.[17] The case against Armstrong was finally closed in 2017, with the distribution of about $80 million to claim holders by the receiver according to court filings.[18] Armstrong appealed the refusal of the receiver to transport his remaining possessions from storage lockers in New York and Pennsylvania to him in Florida, but the appeal failed in 2019. Concerning his felony conviction, Armstrong is “unrepentant” according to Bloomberg News.[19] In 2014, Italian comedian, activist, and Five Star Movement founder Beppe Grillo’s cited an article by L’Antidiplomatico that quoted Armstrong as supporting Grillo’s anti-euro views and calls for a referendum on the issue, and presented him as a historian who described Grillo as a prominent figure of the struggle for democracy and cited The Economist article “Send in the clowns” (in reference to Grillo and Silvio Berlusconi) to establish Armstrong as an expert holding the opposite view of The Economist.[2] On his website, Armstrong described himself as a “world-renowned” historian and economist, an influencer on Ronald Reagan, and a friend of Margaret Thatcher, without mentioning other details of his biography, such as his criminal conviction.[2]

Hidden rare coins cache
In 2014, a day laborer sold a box of 58 rare coins to a Philadelphia thrift shop for $6,000, which he said he had found while clearing out the basement of a house in New Jersey. In 2017, when the thrift shop announced they were to auction the coins and they actually valued at $2.5 million, Armstrong came forward to declare himself the rightful owner. He claimed that he had hidden the coins in his mother’s old house to take them “off the books” in anticipation of the public offering of his firm. The thrift shop sued Armstrong, asking the court to declare the thrift shop as rightful owners while Armstrong counter-sued, also seeking ownership. In 2019, the U.S. government learned about the coins and claimed them as part of the treasure hoard Armstrong had refused to hand over in 1999, and for which he had served seven years in jail for contempt. In addition to rare coins, the treasure hoard, valued at $12.9 million, included 102 gold bars, 699 gold coins, and an ancient bust of Julius Caesar.[20][21] Armstrong was deposed. According to Receiver Alan M. Cohen, Armstrong admitted hiding the coins. Armstrong’s attorneys said in a court filing that Armstrong did not make this admission. The auction house now possesses the coins and the U.S. government filed suit to take possession

Wiki