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A customer-shot image showing a 40-pound dumbbell White allegedly mailed – instead of $90,000 in coins orders.
An allegedly duplicitous pecuniary profiteer accused of stealing more than $1.4 million from patrons nationwide has his next court date set for the first week of the new year.
In an ongoing investigation by the publication, which the paper began covering June 23, The Examiner revealed that a Jefferson County grand jury charged Michael James White, 34, with three cases of felony theft in 2021. Those cases totaled $247,822 in allegedly White-stolen funds.
A dive by The Examiner through attorney general records, BBB complaints, judicial rulings and more unveiled a trail of theft allegations in excess of $1,495,000 attributable to White’s Gold Pro LLC. Amid indictments, court appearances and multiple investigations – including an FBI probe – White’s customers claim he continues to lie and steal.
According to a 2020 judgment obtained by the paper from South Carolina’s 13th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Perry Gravely, White received an order to repay his robbed customer $487,331.18:
“The defendants are national actors in the coin market, which, along with their deceptive dealings with (the victim), supports (his) contention that their conduct is capable of repetition and, therefore, impacts on the public interest.”
The judge’s words proved prophetic, according to a collection White’s subsequent customers-turned-victims.
“I can’t believe his website is up and he’s still in business,” said Jacksonville, Florida, resident Larry Collier, who told The Examiner in September that White robbed him of just over $25,000 after a May 13 order.
“I got an invoice that said it would ship within seven to 10 business days. I reached out on May 26, and then again on June 3, and then again on June 6. He finally just threw some stuff in a box and shipped it to me,” Collier detailed, saying White just hoped to appease and quiet his complaining customer.
Ever since publishing the first story about White’s alleged thefts in June, perturbed patrons – like Collier – have called from across the nation to detail their cautionary tales of dealing with the Beaumont-based businessman.
Most recently, Virginia resident Richard Wingo called the paper Dec. 19 to share his attempt to purchase gold from White.
“The guy is a con artist,” Wingo summed, saying the merchant took approximately $3,500 from him and never sent the man’s order.
After just under a year of failed attempts to reach White via phone, Wingo was able to recover his money within a week of sending a 10-day demand letter through a local lawyer. In fact, conversations with numerous victims reveal White would “find a way” to repay his peeved customers when they involved lawyers or the police.
White’s customers tell the paper he’s simply “robbing from Peter to pay Paul” – or stealing from one so-called customer to repay another.
Former customers further reported that White would offer them a series of what they suspected to be lies, blaming an employee for sending 40-lbs dumbbells to a buyer instead of the gold they ordered; that his wife died; that she was in a motorcycle crash – an allegedly separate incident; or that she was in labor during various times he promised to send payments or products. A search of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) crash report system revealed no local officers filed any crash report for “Michael White” in Jefferson County – not just on April 12, 2021, as he claimed, but for the entire year.
In another evidently false claim, White’s website lauds him as a member of the “Marquis Who’s Who,” a online encyclopedia composed of important figures in various fields throughout the country.
However, when reached via email in regard to White’s assertion, Marquis Who’s Who Customer Service and Compliancy Director Iris Cannetti replied, “Please be advised, we cannot find record of anyone listed by that name fitting the description provided,” referencing an article by this reporter.