Metals Firm Put In Receivership

BROCK International, the El Toro precious-metals brokerage raided Tuesday by state and federal agents, was placed in receivership by a federal judge.

Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real also issued orders freezing 13 bank and brokerage accounts held by BROCK in the United States, the Netherlands and London, according to court records unsealed Wednesday.

The 2-year-old company is accused of selling illegal foreign futures contracts through telephone salesmen operating in El Toro and Houston, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the state attorney general’s office and the attorney general of Texas.

BROCK collected $3 million to $6 million from hundreds of investors, according to court records.

Judge Real ordered BROCK’s principals to appear in federal court Oct. 19.