Two Men Accused of $8-Million Golf Club Telemarketing Scam

Two Orange County businessmen who already face dozens of charges of telemarketing fraud have been indicted by a federal grand jury on suspicion of running a scheme to bilk golfers out of $8 million.

Mitchell Gold, 44, of San Juan Capistrano and Jonathan Cohen, 29, of Tustin, are accused of giving golfers a chance to test-play high-quality clubs for free, then charging them $1,500 each. Though golfers were told they could return the clubs for a full refund, prosecutors said, the suspects allegedly prevented them from recouping their credit card “security deposits.”

The pair snared hundreds of golfers nationwide by marketing the clubs over the telephone, authorities said.

“These golf clubs were supposed to be state of the art, but when people got them they found the lettering all smeared, or they’d do a drive and the head would fly off the club,” said Ellyn Lindsay, an assistant U.S. attorney.

The indictment, handed down Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, charges the men with 20 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and telemarketing fraud. According to court documents, golfers who wanted to return their clubs were referred to a customer service department that rarely picked up the phone.

In other cases, the telemarketing companies--Platinum Pro Tour and State of the Art Golf--simply refused to take the clubs back, prosecutors allege.

One man who purchased a set of the clubs, William Kelly of Friendswood, Texas, said he was impressed when the company asked him for body measurements needed to customize clubs.

“They were very good-looking clubs, but they weren’t hitting any better than what I had already,” Kelly said.

Kelly eventually returned the clubs and waited for his refund. That was two years ago, Kelly said, and he is still waiting.