After a $5 purchase at a garage sale, could this woman now be the largest stock holder in the Coca-Cola Company? INSIDE EDITION talks to the woman who says she's suddenly very rich.
Jamie Marohn is claiming that an 88-year-old stock certificate makes her and her family the largest shareholders in the Coca-Cola corporation, worth an eye-popping $130 million!
"I'm holding the golden ticket!" Marohn said of the certification.
Marohn's late father bought the certificate at a garage sale for $5.
But is this the real deal?
"He went to an estate sale in 2008 and he purchased a box. He went home later on that evening and discovered that there was a stock certificate in it!" Marohn said.
The 1924 certificate is for 162 shares of the Palmer Union Oil Company.
Over the years, Palmer Union Oil merged with a company that merged with another company. Fast forward to current times, that company is known as Coca-Cola.
Marohn family lawyer Chris Morosoff believes that the certificate Jamie's late father found has multiplied in value to be worth the equivalent of 1.8 million shares of Coca-Cola stock. At current prices, this works out to be $130 million.
"He was looking for the golden ticket and he found it," Morosoff said.
But some are taking the fizz out of Marohn's fortune. For one, Coca-Cola is denying the validity of the claim, calling it: "Factually and legally meritless, not to mention completely unfair to the company's millions of legitimate shareholders."
INSIDE EDITION spoke with Bob Kerstein, a stock certificate expert who buys and sells antique certificates.
"I think it's crazy!" Kerstein said of Marohn's claim.
Kerstein even showed Paul Boyd a certificate just like the one Marohn found at the garage sale.
"It looks just like the other one! What did you pay for it?" Boyd asked.
"Five or ten dollars, and I sold it for maybe $25. Frankly, that's all I think it's worth now. So many things could have happened over the years to invalidate the certificate," Kerstein said.
When INSIDE EDITION showed Kerstein the certificate, he wasn't impressed.
"It looks like it's been canceled. Or if it's been canceled, I don't see how they can try to claim a canceled certificate and redeem it," Kerstein said.
But the holder of this garage sale gold remains as bubbly and effervescent as Coca-Cola itself, insisting she's got the real thing: and that it's worth $130 million!
