MIAMI — A South Florida businessman who has repeatedly been in trouble with the law was charged on Monday with selling $5 million worth of coins that were fraudulently appraised as rare.
Larry Webman, 43, of North Miami was named along with eight others in an indictment unsealed on Monday. They face 41 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy and interstate transportation of money taken by fraud.
More than 1,700 customers who bought the coins after being contacted by phone lost money. Many never received any coins, the FBI said.
The indictment charges that from 1984 to 1986, customers of Webman at Global Rare Coins in North Miami were told their purchases of Morgan U.S. silver dollars and gold coins would be independently appraised. Instead, the coins were given inflated appraisals by a man who was part of the scheme, the indictment states.
Global moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1986, operating for two years under the name of International Coin Exchange, the FBI said.
Arrested in addition to Webman on Monday were Bernard Ellis, 61, a salesman from North Miami Beach; Angelo Carlozzi, 38, also known as Al Evans, a salesman from Miami Beach; Sheldon Schultz, 62, and Robert Cornely, 54, both of Georgia. Four others are being sought.
Webman faces up to 360 years in prison and $10.2 million in fines.
Records show Webman has been involved in unlawful commodities sales and fraudulent rare-coin sales since the late 1970s.
Webman was a manager at Intervest, a commodities firm shut down by the federal government in 1978. He did not admit guilt but promised not to violate trading laws in the future.
In 1982 while with Centennial Marketing in Hallandale, Webman was ordered by the government to stop unlawfully selling gold futures. In the mid-1980s, he served three years probation for fraud at Consolidated Rare Coin in Hallandale. In 1989, two years after his coin business was shut down by various government agencies, Webman’s LifeAIDS Products Corp. filed for bankrupcy. LifeAIDS sold condom machine franchises and customers lost $1.26 million.
