COSTA MESA : Prison Ordered for Rare-Coin Swindlers

A father and his son were sentenced to prison Friday for swindling $6 million from investors across the country by persuading them to buy ancient and rare coins that were vastly overvalued.

Vincent L. Caterino, 59, of Riverside and his son, James N. Caterino, 29, of Costa Mesa, were convicted of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud last March for defrauding more than 500 people through high-pressure phone pitches made at their Costa Mesa company, Marco Numismatics.

U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts on Friday sentenced Vincent Caterino to 13 years and one month in prison and ordered him to repay $500,000 to investors. He sentenced James Caterino to five years and 10 months in prison and ordered him to repay $30,000 to investors.

In a brief but emotional statement to the judge, the son blamed his father and his uncle, who pleaded guilty, for luring him into the business.

“I’m sorry I ever got into this,” the younger Caterino said. “I was influenced by my father. He convinced me we were putting together a family business. I felt I was let down tremendously by him and by my uncle. I now know better and I’ll never get involved in anything like this again.”

In his own speech, Vincent Caterino backed up his son, saying: “Jimmy’s my youngest son of five children. He’s been taught to obey his father without question and he’s always done that.”

But Vincent Caterino said the story of Marco Numismatics was a story “only half-told.” His lawyer, Miguel Mirano, said Caterino still cannot see what was morally wrong with what he did because others carry out similar buy-sell plans in the stock and real estate markets.

But Letts said he “couldn’t disagree with that more strongly.”

From the summer of 1985 through September, 1988, Marco Numismatics sold ancient Greek and Roman coins.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas J. Umberg said the coins were authentic but were worth only a fraction of the amount the Caterinos claimed. Evidence at the trial showed that Marco salesmen sold sets of coins called The Twelve Caesars of Rome for $28,000, when their true value was about $3,000.

The men bought Roman denarii coins for $35 and sold them for $600, Umberg said.

The Caterinos and their colleagues also misled customers by promising they could liquidate their investments at any time and that the company would act as a broker and sell the investors’ coins if they wished, Umberg said. If investors tried to take them up on those offers, they got a string of excuses and delays, Umberg said.

Marco employees also churned their customers’ accounts by engaging in unnecessary transactions to justify higher commissions, Umberg said.

Vincent Caterino was convicted of 22 counts and James Caterino was convicted of 20 counts. Five others pleaded guilty at various points after their indictment.