A couple thought they’d invested in gold. Instead, they and hundreds of others say they were scammed. – The Mercury News

With a fickle stock market and broader economic uncertainty around the globe, Howard and Heather Short were looking for a safe harbor for their savings and financial stability.

The San Diego couple settled on gold.

After months of hearing advertisements promoting the Oxford Gold Group on a local talk radio station, the Shorts began transferring chunks of their retirement portfolio to the Beverly Hills company.

“I thought, it’s silver and gold. It’s tangible. It’s not going to lose value,” Heather Short said in a telephone interview. “We did one lump sum from each of our retirement accounts.”

Oxford Gold told clients their assets would be deposited with Equity Trust Co., an Ohio firm specializing in so-called self-directed investment accounts focused on precious metals, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets.

But earlier this year, the Shorts and hundreds of other investors received a letter from Equity Trust indicating that the money they directed to Oxford Gold had not been properly recorded.

“What this means is that our records reflect that i) the metals you purchased from Oxford Gold were not yet fulfilled and delivered to your designated depository, and/or ii) that your Equity Trust account(s) has not received the cash proceeds from the precious metals that you sold to Oxford Gold,” the unsolicited correspondence said.

The letter from Equity Trust advised the Shorts to review their statements and to contact Oxford Gold for further information. Equity Trust was no longer doing business with the gold purveyor, it said.

“Thank you for being a valued client,” the letter concluded.

Now the Shorts are among hundreds of people who have lost millions of dollars of retirement savings to Oxford Gold, which according to news reports out of Los Angeles has shut its doors and closed without a trace.

They also are the lead plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit filed late last week in San Diego federal court alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of federal securities laws and unfair competition.

The plaintiffs, who live in at least 27 different states, say Equity Trust failed to make sure that investments were being properly credited to their retirement accounts, the lawsuit says.

“Business records generated at defendant Equity Trust Co. in connection with the transfer of the millions of dollars from investor accounts showed substantial and material amount of precious metals transactions with OGG were not being settled,” the complaint alleges.

That means “the investor funds were going unaccounted for by Equity Trust Co. in violation of defendant Equity Trust Co.’s fiduciary duty to investors,” it added.

Equity Trust, a Westlake, Ohio-based investment house that claims more than $45 billion in total assets under management, said in a statement that the company does not comment on pending litigation.