November 18, 2009

Summary

The Austrian Mint wants $650,000 in gold coins delivered to gold and coin dealer Mark Yaffe of Tampa returned.

The Austrian Mint wants $650,000 in gold coins delivered to gold and coin dealer Mark Yaffe of Tampa returned.

From September 2008 to April 2009, the Austrian  Mint delivered 1,500 gold coins to Yaffe’s company, National Gold Exchange, according to a report in the St. Petersburg Times. Yaffe was supposed to sell them on consignment.

But Yaffe filed for bankruptcy in July, and now the Austrian Mint wants the Vienna Philharmonic gold coins returned.

Yaffe has filed a reorganization plan that would pay off creditors through 2016. His top creditor is Sovereign Bank of Boston, which is owed $36 million. The plan includes a provision for Yaffe to be allowed $74,000 a month to maintain the 30,000-square-foot mansion he’s trying to sell for $25 million in Tampa, according to the newspaper report.