Until recently this page carried a review of Oxford Gold Group that gave the company 4.5 out of 5 and listed its BBB rating as a reason to trust it. That was wrong, and leaving it up while people searched for what happened to their savings would have been worse. Here is the record instead, with the source for each item so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it.
Case timeline
Case 2:24-bk-16947-NB, United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles Division, before Judge Neil W. Bason. Chapter 7 trustee: Carolyn A. Dye.
| Date | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Feb 2024 | Equity Trust, the custodian for many affected accounts, stops working with Oxford Gold. Reported by ABC7. |
| Aug 2024 | Attorney Michael Aguirre files a class action naming the company's chief executive and chief financial officer. ABC7 reports an FBI investigation. Individual losses described in that reporting range from $32,000 to $225,000. The Beverly Hills office closes and the website goes down. |
| 28 Aug 2024 | Creditors file an involuntary Chapter 7 petition. Chapter 7 is liquidation, not reorganisation, and it was brought by creditors rather than by the company. |
| 21 Oct 2025 | Court records show a hearing on the trustee's motion for an order approving a compromise with Equity Trust Company. We have not read the resulting order, so we are not describing its terms. That the estate pursued the custodian at all is the part worth noting. |
| 13 May 2026 | Docket entry 240: notice of sale of estate property in Studio City, California, proposed price $2,108,000, hearing set for 9 June 2026. That date has passed. The point is not the deadline but the fact that assets are being gathered and the case is live. |
Last verified against the court record on 2 August 2026. We update this page when the docket moves, which is the only reason it is worth citing over a news article from 2024. If you are a reporter or a lawyer and we have something wrong, or the case has moved since this date, tell us and we will correct it and say that we did. Journalists and consumer advocates are welcome to quote any figure on this page.
What the record actually shows
Oxford Gold Group, Inc. is the debtor in an involuntary Chapter 7 case, number 2:24-bk-16947-NB, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles Division, before Judge Neil W. Bason. Chapter 7 means liquidation. The case was opened in August 2024 on a petition by creditors, not by the company itself.
As recently as 13 May 2026 the trustee filed a notice of sale of estate property (docket entry 240), covering a property in Studio City, California at a proposed price of $2,108,000, with a hearing set for 9 June 2026. That date has now passed and the docket will have moved on, so treat this as evidence that the case is live and being worked rather than as a deadline to act on. Assets are being gathered.
ABC7 Los Angeles reported in August 2024 that attorney Michael Aguirre filed a class action naming the company's chief executive and chief financial officer, and that the FBI was investigating. Those are allegations and an open investigation, not findings of guilt, and we describe them that way deliberately. The same reporting put individual customer losses between roughly $32,000 and $225,000.
The recurring account from customers is that funds left a 401(k) or IRA, reached the dealer, and the metal was never delivered into the custodian account. Equity Trust, which held custody for many of these accounts, told reporters it takes direction from clients and custodies what is actually purchased, and that it stopped working with Oxford Gold in February 2024. The BBB revoked the company's accreditation.
If your metal or money is stuck there
This is the part almost nobody writes down, so here it is plainly. None of it is legal advice, and we have no relationship with anyone named below.
Four things worth doing, in this order
- Get on the record in the bankruptcy. Court filings in case 2:24-bk-16947-NB identify Carolyn A. Dye as the Chapter 7 trustee, with Dumas & Kim, APC in Los Angeles acting as her counsel. The trustee administers the estate, and a creditor who never files is a creditor the estate does not know about. Ask specifically how to file a proof of claim and whether the bar date has passed.
- Contact the firm already representing customers. The court's own service list for this case is thick with individual creditors represented by Aguirre & Severson, LLP in San Diego. Joining an existing group action is usually cheaper and faster than starting alone, and they will already know the answers to the procedural questions.
- Get your custodian statements now, before you need them. If Equity Trust or another custodian held the account, request a full statement history and the purchase confirmations. Worth knowing: court records show the trustee brought a motion to approve a compromise with Equity Trust Company, heard on 21 October 2025, so the estate did pursue the custodian side. We cover what a custodian is and is not responsible for on our Equity Trust page. That paperwork is what proves what you paid for and what was actually delivered. It is much easier to obtain while your account is open than after you close it.
- Do not close or move the IRA blindly. A precious metals IRA that is emptied the wrong way becomes a taxable distribution, and at that point you have added a tax bill to a loss. Move it as a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to another custodian. Our rollover guide explains the mechanics, including the 20% withholding trap on anything paid to you personally.
What this case actually teaches
It is tempting to read this as a story about one bad company. The more useful reading is about a structural gap that applies to every dealer in this industry, including the ones with clean records.
The dealer and the custodian are two different businesses, and only one of them holds your metal. You send money to a dealer. A custodian is supposed to end up holding what that money bought. If nobody checks that the second half happened, the gap can stay open for a long time. The single most valuable habit here costs nothing: after every purchase, log in to the custodian directly, not to the dealer's portal, and confirm the specific coins or bars are listed. If the custodian cannot show it, you do not own it yet.
The second lesson is about ratings. This company had an A+ BBB rating and glowing review-site coverage right up until it did not, and that coverage was still circulating after the office had closed. A rating is a snapshot of the past, and in an affiliate-funded corner of the internet it is frequently a paid one. We had a 4.5 out of 5 on this very page. Check the primary registers instead: the CFTC enforcement list, your state securities regulator, and the federal court dockets. All three are free and none of them are for sale.
Where that leaves you
If you were researching Oxford Gold Group as a place to open an account, the answer is simply no, and no comparison is needed. If you are rebuilding after this, the thing worth carrying forward is the checking habit above rather than a recommendation from us or anyone else.
We do have a commercial relationship with one dealer, and we would rather say so in plain sight on this page than let you discover it later. You can read how we check any company, including that one, on our enforcement dossier, where every entry carries the primary source it came from.
Sources
- United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, case 2:24-bk-16947-NB, notice of sale of estate property, docket 240, filed 13 May 2026 (cacb.uscourts.gov).
- ABC7 Los Angeles, "Oxford Gold Group: More complaints emerge about Beverly Hills firm" and "Class action lawsuit filed, federal investigation underway", August 2024.
Last checked against the court record on 1 August 2026. Dockets move. If you are relying on this for a decision, look the case up yourself before you act.
Thomas Richardson
The byline we publish our retirement research under. We are not licensed advisers. We read the primary sources, compare what companies publish, and write down what we find, including where a figure could not be verified.
Fact-checked by Sarah Mitchell, CPA — Licensed CPA with 15 years in retirement tax planning