For years, actor William Devane took on the role of prominent television and film characters, including politicians, military leaders and corporate titans.
His commanding demeanor and steady voice drew viewers to the Knots Landing star. It was also a perfect marketing tool for Rosland Capital, a precious metals asset management company, that hired Devane as its spokesman.
For nearly 15 years, Devane participated in various commercials touting Rosland Capital as a trustworthy company where investors could secure their savings by buying gold bullion, silver coins and other precious metals.
'Trust is earned,' Devane says in one of the TV spots, explaining how the Rosland had an 'A+ rating' with the Better Business Bureau. 'I trust Rosland Capital.'
Three months ago, those commercials suddenly stopped airing on Fox News and Newsmax.
Rosland Capital abandoned its offices in Los Angeles and Henderson, Nevada, letting go of dozens of employees and hastily shuttered its doors.
On July 2, the company that once claimed to have sold over $1 billion in precious metals to its customers, mostly retirees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in California.
Actor William Devane was featured in Rosland Capital commercials for almost 15 years
Devane (sixth from top right) is most known for his 10-year stint playing the character Greg Sumner on the hit primetime soap opera Knots Landing between 1983 and 1993
William Devane starred with actress Natalie Wood in the TV movie From Here to Eternity
Dozens of customers have since filed claims against the company, including elderly customers who claimed to have lost millions in retirement savings.
Devane has stayed silent, but his wife, Debbie Morrison, told the Daily Mail they were not aware of Rosland Capital's business dealings.
'It goes completely against his morals,' Morrison said of her husband. 'He absolutely did not know what was going on in the company.
'It's just terrible what has happened and we feel bad for everyone. It was a shock to us, too, just like all the poor people this happened to.
'It's awful what [Rosland] has done. He feels terrible for what has happened to everyone, but he had no idea and no way of knowing what was happening.'
According to documents filed in the bankruptcy proceedings, Devane was also owed money by the company.
His contract, which saw him receive quarterly payments of $50,000, was not due to expire until June 2028, according to the filings.
Morrison said other than showing up to locations to film the commercials, her husband had no direct dealings with the company.
She said they had never visited the Rosland offices in California or Nevada.
The Daily Mail has reached out to attorneys for Rosland Capital and its CEO Marin Aleksov.
Court documents detail how the billion-dollar company quickly tanked and is now under liquidation.
The company reported assets in the $1 to $10 million range against liabilities of $50 to $100 million.
According to court filings, the company also has a capital deficit at more than $60 million and allegedly claims to no longer have any inventory of gold bullion or coins, just limited cash.
Rosland grew its customer base for 20 years from aggressive celebrity advertisement on cable news networks, Google, Bing, YouTube and other platforms.
Chase Carey (R), CEO of the Formula One Group and Rosland Capital CEO Marin Aleksov (L) hold medals during a celebration of the 1000th F1 Grand Prix Coin of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International circuit in Shanghai, China on April 2019. Rosland Capital sold precious metal coins featuring limited-edition gold and silver commemorative circuit coins
A 2010 picture with Marin Aleksov with gold coins sold by his company
Actor William Devane with Donna Mills in a 1979 episode of Knots Landing
According to the filings, the rise in precious metal prices earlier this year caused a surge in orders, and the company could not keep up with the prepaid orders.
The company would also pay its brokers and sales representatives 15 to 35 percent commission, further squeezing the company's profits, according to records.
Fox News was listed on the company's bankruptcy petition as a creditor, with Rosland owing the network $1.9 million.
The names of the other 19 unsecured creditors who were owed about $21.6 million, were redacted.
Laurel Mooney Proaps, who lives in San Marcos, California, said she is still waiting for her coins, which she paid $101,000 for, to Rosland Capital.
She has since joined the company's bankruptcy case as a claimant, along with dozens of others.
Proaps said she saw the commercials featuring Devane while watching Fox News earlier this year. She was instantly drawn to the idea of securing her finances by buying silver.
'The salesperson convinced me that silver was going to "blow up" and that it was going up so much in value,' Proaps, 65, told the Daily Mail.
'Two salespeople were then very convincing and came off like they were so informative about the precious metals market. One of them even told me that he had just gotten back from having lunch with the president of Charles Schwab the other day.'
Proaps said when she started to trust the two salespeople, she made two purchases of about $50,000 with the expectation she would be receiving her silver Canadian falcon coins by special delivery in the mail within 14 days.
'I got to know them so well that we would have conversations about restaurants we went to,' Proaps said. 'But when the 14 days passed and there were still no coins, it was, "We can't get the silver right now because it's so hard to get right now and it's a completely a supply-chain thing."
Rosland Capital filed for bankruptcy in July but the company's Facebook has not been taken down
Customers told the Daily Mail that Rosland Capital brokers allegedly influenced them to purchase gold and silver coins, some featuring special edition collection series that feature F1, tennis legend Billy Jean King and American golfer Arnold Palmer
'And then it was, "The person in our shipping department is sick." Finally, my husband flat out asked in March, "Is your company in financial trouble or something?"'
'Their response was, "Oh, don't worry. You will get the coins."'
Proaps said when she called again about six weeks later, the regular salespeople she often communicated with were gone and another unknown salesperson was on their voicemail.
According to the declaration filed by the company's attorneys, Rosland employees in the Los Angeles and Henderson offices were let go on June 19.
Meanwhile, more than 400 voicemails and emails from frustrated customers remained unanswered.
One of those salespeople was Princess Diaries actor Erik von Detten.
The former actor said in prior interviews that he left the entertainment business in 2010 and joined Rosland Capital in 2018 as a senior representative and broker.
Another elderly couple, 85-year-old Sheila Greenberg and 97-year-old Norman Greenberg, who claimed to have been bilked out of $2 million of their retirement savings, filed a civil suit in May against von Detten, Rosland Capital and Aleksov.
The Greenbergs claim that they had called the company in 2020 after seeing a television advertisement and were put in touch with von Detten.
They also alleged that von Detten had impressed them with his knowledge about gold and said that he would be able to help them.
They allege that they placed two orders of Lady Liberty gold from von Detten for around $1 million, but were never sent coins and instead sent to a facility for storage then a short time later von Detten made another purchase of $1 million in coins.
The couple went on to claim that they eventually learned the coins they had purchased were not worth what they spent and had been marked at a massive premium.
The Greenbergs have alleged that they have invested $2.1 million total, but the coins were only worth $1.3 million.
They are now suing for $900,000 in damages to recover their losses in addition to punitive damages.
The Daily Mail has obtained legal documents filed by attorneys on behalf of elderly couple against von Detten (above, in May 2004) and his employer Rosland Capital
Von Detten is best known for his role as Josh Bryant in the 2001 film The Princess Diaries. Above, with co-star Anne Hathaway
The Daily Mail has reached out to von Detten, Aleksov and the company's attorneys for comment. So far, they have not filed a response to the Greenbergs' or Proaps' lawsuits.
Aleksov and von Detten have close ties.
Records obtained by the Daily Mail show von Detten's wife, who is a real estate agent, sold Aleksov's $4.9 million, five-bedroom mansion in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood about a month before Rosland Capital declared bankruptcy.
The Greenbergs' attorney, Bruce Berman, told the Daily Mail his clients' civil suit is on hold temporarily while Rosland continues its bankruptcy proceedings.
Proaps also filed her own civil suit against the company and CEO Aleksov earlier this month, claiming intentional fraud. Since she has lost over $100,000, Proaps said she has had to represent herself.
'It's been very stressful because I already lost so much money, and now I can't even afford $20,000 or more to hire another attorney, so I'm having to do this on my own.'
The stay-at-home mom, whose children are now grown up, said she was hoping she and her husband would be able to retire and have a comfortable 'nest egg'.
'But now that's gone,' she said. 'I've joined that bankruptcy as a creditor but there is probably no money left once they liquidate everything.
'I'm so stressed out because I'm also suing them on my own, but I know I'm not alone in this because there are hundreds of us. There are people who said they wanted to cash out their gold but it was just taken, and they never got any of their money back. We didn't even know they shut everything down. It's devastating.'
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