This article sucks-Bogus 9/11 coins

[willywonka666]

A US company selling 9/11 commemorative coins that purportedly contained silver from Ground Zero has agreed to pay \$750,000 (£473,000) to settle charges that it deceived consumers.

The National Collector's Mint was accused in a Federal Trade Commission complaint of failing to properly identify its coins and of charging customers for items they never ordered.

The company, based in Port Chester, New York, sells 9/11 coins and other memorabilia.

The coins featured images from the World Trade Centre and the USS New York, a ship partially forged from the steel salvaged from the 9/11 attacks, according to reports.

In 2010, the US government created an official 9/11 medal, with proceeds going towards a museum being built at the World Trade Centre site.

A statement by the FTC said the National Collector’s Mint had "agreed to pay \$750,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers, charged them for items they never ordered, and failed to properly mark its imitation items with 'COPY'."

New York senator Charles Schumer and representative Jerrold Nadler complained the National Collector's Mint's coins could deprive the museum of funds.

Mr Schumer said the US would not tolerate a "despicable scam".

Sheldon Lustigman, a lawyer representing the company, described the complaint as "ridiculous".

"There was no confusion of any kind whatsoever," he told the New York Post. "We don't think anybody was at all mislead.

"It's the old story of the (US) Mint not liking competition - that's what it really amounts to."

He said the National Collector's Mint had put out its commemorative 10th anniversary 9/11 coin long before the US Mint issued its own version, and that the two coins look nothing alike.


My main gripe is how this article is poorly written:
1. They gave away the gist of it in the first paragraph and then wrote a 2nd to repeat what was in the first paragraph

2.They never explained what the items customers were charged for that they didn't order

3. Lawyers suck. the pay out $750,000 and then say "well, it's bs" Then why did you go along with the settlement. Can a lawyer admit when they are wrong ever?

[Red Impact]

I don't think the second repeats the first, it expands it. From the perspective of a former journalist, news stories are designed as much as they are written. The lead doesn't name anyone or anything that the reader wouldn't be instantly know who they were talking about, so while it'd be fine to name Apple, Sony or the FBI, readers aren't going to instantly know what the National Collector's Mint is. The first paragraph identifies it as a US company, rather than a government entity that people might mistake it for. It's pretty standard.

I do agree that they needed to explain more about what items were charged for that they didn't order though.

As for the whole settlement thing, settlements aren't about whether you think they have an argument, they're about whether you think than convince a jury to award more. If you have a choice between paying $750,000 now, or taking it to a jury, paying your lawyers, and risking that the government's lawyers could convince a jury to make you pay $10,000,000, then that $750,000 doesn't seem like a bad option.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

"The US mint doesn't like competition"

Don't I know it everytime I try to print my own money everyone is up my ass about it

[Deleted]

I always knew these coins were fishy but didn't realize they neglected to put the word COPY on it.

That is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE NO NO.