JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division has issued an order to show cause why restitution, civil penalties and other administrative relief should not be imposed against a company and four individuals that allegedly offered and sold at least $760,000 in unregistered homemade “silver and gold certificates.”
Between April 2018 and August 2020, Robert Craig Bridgforth, through an entity he reportedly called Liberty Gold and Silver, allegedly offered and sold securities instruments to six investors in Missouri, including four elderly residents from Warrensburg, Independence and Oak Grove. The certificates were said to be collateralized by gold or silver.
Also named in the order, Ashley R. Wegener, Dustin Raysik and Bryan L. Cochran, all unregistered issuer agents, allegedly introduced the Missouri investors to Bridgforth and received commissions. Bridgforth purportedly drafted his own instruments that contained graphics and images that made false statements that the investments were secured by currency minted by the United States Treasury.
In connection with offering the investments, Bridgforth is alleged to have made material misstatements and omissions, and engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme that violated multiple sections of the Missouri Securities Act.
The Securities Division is seeking a Final Order from Missouri Securities Commissioner David M. Minnick for more than $4 million in civil penalties, more than $700,000 in restitution with interest and cost of the investigation.
“Promising a high rate of return with promises on very official looking documents can be very enticing to investors,” said Ashcroft. “Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”