4 Charged With Precious Metals Fraud

SACRAMENTO —  A federal grand jury indicted the operators of a Newport Beach precious metals investment company on charges they defrauded investors of more than $20 million from 1983 through 1986.

The indictment, handed up Thursday, charged Harold Lazerman, 55, and his ex-wife, Pina Facella, 50, formerly of Newport Beach, with one count of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, 30 counts of mail fraud and two counts of tax evasion while operating Investment Metals International.

One charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and 30 counts of mail fraud were filed against Danny Paul Facella, 30, of Palm Desert. A fourth defendant, Vladislav Bugarski, 46, of Corona, was indicted on one count of conspiring to commit mail fraud and one count of mail fraud.

Lazerman, Danny Facella and Bugarski were not listed in telephone directories and could not be reached for comment Friday.

Pina Facella, contacted in Palm Desert, said she is divorced from Harold Lazerman. She was called Pina Lazerman in the indictments. She said she was unsure whether she or her ex-husband had been involved in a metals-investment company.

According to court documents, the four, through telephone and mail solicitations, allegedly induced people to invest more than $20 million in gold, silver, copper, palladium and platinum, which they were told would be stored for them at the company’s offices in Newport Beach.

The indictment alleges that Lazerman, the company’s president, and the three others falsely told investors that the company held a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade and that its agents would purchase the metals at the exchange.

Court documents allege that Lazerman and the others never made the purchases and used the money for their own benefit.