DETROIT DOCTOR COULD FORFEIT $MILLION COIN TROVE

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V18 2015 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 25, June 21, 2015, Article 32

This article from The Detroit News discusses a local doctor who could be forced to forfeit millions of dollars worth of rare coins purchased with funds allegedly stolen from Medicare. -Editor

A West Bloomfield neurologist who reaped millions by allegedly cheating Medicare spent more than $9.3 million on baseball cards, ancient coins, collectable currency and stamps — a rare collection he could soon lose to the government.

Dr. Gavin Awerbuch amassed the collection — including coins from ancient Rome — using cash generated by an alleged five-year crime wave, according to federal court records that offer rare insight into the secretive world of coin collecting. At the upper end, the world is filled with hobbyists who, due to security concerns, protect the scope and value of their prized possessions.

"This flabbergasts me. I never knew that his firepower extended that far," said Metro Detroit currency dealer Frederick Bart, who sold the doctor $360,225 worth of collectable currency printed before 1928. "He didn't have a target on his back where you thought 'here comes moneybags.' "

Federal prosecutors want the collection — experts say it could be among the richest in Michigan — forfeited to the government, along with $2.9 million in cash and a million-dollar Arizona vacation home.

Though court records do not specify exactly which collectible items Awerbuch purchased, the extent of his coin collection is emerging more than one year after he was charged with health care fraud and distribution of controlled substances.

He was accused of defrauding Medicare of $7 million and prescribing so much of the cancer painkiller Subsys that he was the top dispenser in the country, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"(Sizable) purchases were made with dealers of rare and collectible coins, as well as dealers of other types of collectible items," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Grey wrote in a court filing. "These assets were purchased, at least in part, with criminally derived proceeds commingled in Awerbuch's various accounts."

From 2008 through 2013, Awerbuch spent $9,343,527 at more than a dozen coin and collectible dealers in Michigan and across the country, according to court records.

The bulk, $7 million, was spent at Kagin's Inc. The California firm deals in rare coins, such as a pioneer gold coin for $999,999 and the first coin struck in North America, a shilling priced at $299,500.

"He was a good client," company President Donald Kagin told The News this week. "Over the years, we've had good transactions with him with different types of coins."

Kagin would not reveal what Awerbuch bought from his store, citing client confidentiality.

I never thought of the world of coin collecting as "secretive", but it's certainly true a number of individual collectors are publicity-shy for various reasons. The hobby can certainly be a venue for money laundering, just as the art world can. It's not the fault of dealers and auction houses, nor should they be faulted for being willing sellers to willing buyers. Have there been any published estimates of the amount of illegal booty being funneled in and out of numismatics? -Editor