Years of theft, as well as wide-spread investigation of the same by the FBI, various state attorneys general, Beaumont Police Department and the local Better Business Bureau, concluded with Beaumont conman Michael James White, 35, pleading guilty to wire fraud and finally being sentenced to federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone on Sept. 17.
White, the subject of reader complaints nationwide, has been under Examiner investigation for years, alleged to have defrauded gold buyers far and wide. He was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,179,216.92 in restitution for his crimes against those who trusted him. According to information presented in court, White confessed to running a million-dollar scam through his Vidor-based business, Gold Pro LLC. According to White, he used the company’s online platform to deceive numerous customers into purchasing precious metals that were never delivered.
With fraudulent schemes spanning coast to coast, White’s misdeeds were meticulously revealed over the past several years in The Examiner.
As early as 2019, the Better Business Bureau began noticing a troubling pattern of complaints from customers claiming they paid White for valuable metals but received nothing in return. These issues persisted even as criminal investigations and indictments mounted against the “Gold Pro.” White, according to the allegations, continued his fraudulent activities without interruption. Complainants reported various responses from White, ranging from complete silence to elaborate excuses. In one egregious instance, a customer, who had ordered $90,000 worth of coins, instead received a 40-pound dumbbell.
By 2021, the accumulation of complaints from Gold Pro customers reached a tipping point, leading to multiple indictments.
The Examiner’s report revealed that a Jefferson County grand jury indicted White in September 2021. He was charged with stealing $247,822 from three different sources over the course of six months. White’s attorney, Dustin Galmor, stated that his client repaid two of the complainants before their cases could go to trial. However, the repayment only came after White's arrest in September 2021, when he was taken into custody by Beaumont police and charged with three counts of felony theft.
Despite being arrested, White's fraudulent activities did not cease. After his release from the Jefferson County Jail, White admitted in a signed statement of facts that he went on to defraud 16 more victims, swindling nearly another $1 million. Despite his confession, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office dropped all theft charges against White, allowing him to plead guilty to a single charge of wire fraud in federal court.
Among the many victims of White's scams was Pam Robbins, a 74-year-old Jack- sonville resident. Robbins, who had invested $200,000 of her teacher’s retirement savings into Gold Pro with the expectation of receiving gold, filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General after realizing she had been deceived. According to Robbins, White, along with business partner Mason Fuller and an employee named Emily Ledoux, made promises that they never intended to keep.
Another victim, Charles Coleman, from Tallahassee, Florida, reached out to The Examiner in 2022 after reading about White’s fraudulent activities in the publication. “They’ve obviously ripped off a lot of people, and I’ve been ripped off, too,” Coleman said, echoing the sentiments of many others been caught in White's web of deceit.
White’s signed statement of facts provides further insight into his actions. He admitted to accepting $24,341.94 from a victim referred to as “C.C.” and never delivering the promised goods. Another alleged victim, known only as “Will,” shared a particularly bizarre encounter with White. According to Will, White falsely claimed that his wife had been killed in a car crash in April 2021 and, after repeated attempts to contact White, Will received a delivery from Gold Pro on April 9, 2021; instead of gold, though, Will found a 40-pound dumbbell instead of the $90,000 worth of gold he had ordered.
A second package from White’s company received on April 12, 2021, contained another dumbbell. It was at this point that Will contacted the Beaumont Police Department to file charges.
“Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find a 40-pound barbell,” Will recalled.