Precious Metals Depository Owner Sentenced to 65 Years in Federal Prison for $76 Million Fraud Scheme

WILMINGTON, Del. – Following an eight-day jury trial resulting in his conviction on mail fraud, wire fraud, and income tax evasion charges, the Honorable U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika sentenced Robert L. Higgins on June 17, 2025, to the statutory maximum term of 65 years in federal prison, announced Dylan J. Steinberg, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware.

Court documents and evidence presented at trial and sentencing revealed that Higgins, age 69, owned and operated First State Depository, a precious metals depository located in Wilmington, Delaware.  First State Depository held over $100 million in customer assets, primarily in the form of gold and silver bars and coins.  Over the course of at least a decade, Higgins misappropriated his customers’ assets to pay his debts and finance his personal life, including two timeshares in Hawaii and vacations to foreign countries. He did all of this while underreporting his income on his federal income tax returns.

Evidence presented at trial and in sentencing proceedings revealed that Higgins stole at least $76 million from his customers and that over 1,000 customer accounts were missing precious metals.  Industry sources have characterized Higgins’ fraudulent scheme as the largest theft from a precious metals depository in U.S. history.

Acting U.S. Attorney Steinberg stated, “Higgins lied to, cheated, and stole from customers who placed their trust in him and his businesses during a 10-year fraud scheme.  He took his customers’ metals without their permission and used them to finance his personal life and keep his scheme going, all while failing to report and pay his fair share of income taxes.  By robbing his many victims of their hard-earned life savings and retirement funds, Higgins irreparably hurt hundreds of people and their families.  I applaud the FBI and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division for their hard work to hold Higgins accountable.”

"Honest and law-abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money as well as skirt their tax obligations,” stated Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Philadelphia Field Office.

“The more his greed grew, so did his shameful and selfish scheme. This sentence reflects how egregious Higgins’ crimes truly are. Let this be a lesson to other criminals that the FBI and our partners will not tolerate corruption or those seeking to take advantage of hardworking Americans,” said FBI Baltimore Acting Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski.

This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander P. Ibrahim and Bryan C. Williamson, as well as former Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski, prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the District of Delaware or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:22-cr-44.