Newport Coast resident accused of illegal precious-metals sales

Federal officials have accused a Newport Coast man and his company of running a telemarketing operation that violated commodities law by conducting “off-exchange” transactions in precious metals that were never delivered to customers.

Toney Blondo Eggleston’s My Global Leverage made more than $250,000 in commissions and fees through about $786,000 in precious-metals transactions with 12 customers in 2011 and 2012, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a civil complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Nevada, the commission is seeking an injunction to stop illegal selling and force My Global Leverage and Eggleston to give up ill-gotten gains and pay other monetary penalties.

Typically, Eggleston and his employees had customers pony up 20% to 25% of the cost of a metals purchase, with the rest financed by a loan from Nevada-based commodities dealer Hunter Wise LLC, officials allege.

Hunter Wise, however, had no actual metals to deliver to customers, according to the commission.

“Rather, most of MGL’s customers were speculating on the price direction of precious metals,” the complaint states.

Making leveraged, margined or financed sales of precious metals outside of a commodities exchange without delivering actual product is barred under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, according to the complaint.

That type of transaction is a hallmark of scams that heap risk on investors while soaking them for fees, the commission says.