FDIC demands California gold trader halt misleading ads

The FDIC reported yesterday it has demanded that a California-based precious metals trader immediately stop and correct its misleading advertising that falsely claims consumers' FDIC-insured deposits are at risk of forfeiture. The FDIC asserts that Monetary Gold of Woodland Hills, California, is engaging in a marketing campaign to sell gold products by falsely indicating that consumer insured bank deposits can be legally seized by banks.

The FDIC is separately calling upon Newsmax.com to stop publishing these misleading ads and to issue a correction to its readers following its publication of "Walls Street's Worst Nightmare." In this sponsored ad for Newsmax.com, Monetary Gold falsely asserts that Federal law permits banks to "take its depositors' funds (i.e. your checking, savings, CDs, IRA and 401(k) accounts) and use those funds when necessary to keep itself, the bank, afloat." The FDIC says these assertions are false. Federal law is clear that in the unlikely event of a bank failure, customers' insured deposits would be fully protected up to the $250,000 limit.