The Mystery of the Missing Gold: What Happened After Dozens Invested in One Gold Company?
"I looked at different companies and I was impressed with Regal Assets," retired CBS TV editor Lawrence Fernandez tells Inside Edition.
Fernandez invested nearly a million dollars in Regal Assets and then waited for gold that never came.
"It's out in the ether somehwere," Fernadez says. "It just vanished."
Fernandez is just one the of the disgruntled investors who is part of a Facebook group called "Victims of Regal Assets."
These men and women say they have lost a combined total of at least $10 million.
The CEO and founder, Tyler Gallagher, lived lavishly in a stylish Beverly Hills mansion and was driven around California in a luxury chauffeured car by Kyle Chernak, the owner of Pacific Sunset Transportation.
Lisa Guerrero spoke with Chernak, who says Gallagher is a loose cannon and was often drunk.
Chernak also says Gallagher sat in the car "eating chocolate covered mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms covered in chocolate."
Guerrero asks: "So he was doing drugs and drinking throughout the day, everyday?"
Chernak replies by stating: "Throughout the day, every day."
Kevin Snyder says he sold gold for a year at Regal Assets before he says he was let go for financial reasons.
"I mean, greed is a hell of a drug," Snyder says of Gallager.
Snyder also says that Gallagher's top aide was Leah Donoso, the president of the company.
"She ran the entire back end with all the shipping and tracking and security of the metals, so I couldn't see how she didn't know," Snyder says of Donoso.
Many of the investors we spoke to tell the same story, saying that Leah Donoso happily took their retirement money and then spoon-fed them lies about when the would receive their gold.
Inside Edition caught up with Donoso in a parking lot in Waco, Texas, but she would not answer any questions, and instead said: "No comment, thank you."
Founder Tyler Gallagher did not respond to a request for comment, and has reportedly moved to Dubai, the playground for the super rich.
The men and women who say they were ripped off now want him back in the U.S.
Donoso she says she is cooperating with authorities.
