In November 2009, Glenn Beck exercised his Nazi Tourette’s and told his radio show listeners to “think like a German Jew in 1934, maybe 1931.” What does that mean to an American in 2009?

That means buy yourself some gold.

In reality, Glenn Beck may or may not love gold. But one thing’s for certain: He loves shilling for gold. He loves it so much that his entire doom-and-gloom schtick is predicated upon the money he makes from being the official spokesperson of several companies that fleece consumers that are looking to buy gold he directs them to buy.

He tells you that the economy will collapse at any moment, so buy gold. He tells you that the American dollar will collapse at any moment, so buy gold. He tells you that government spending will cause an economic implosion, so buy gold. He tells you that hyper-inflation you see in Zimbabwe is coming to America, so buy gold. In short, his public persona, as he says here, loooves goooold:

The problem with Beck’s constant glimpses of an apocalyptic future is, of course, the conflict of interest. That’s Fox News’s and Beck’s problem to deal with. The problem for the consumer, however, is that these gold companies are slimy frauds that run afoul of the law by bilking people out of their money. In July, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office opened investigations into Beck-sponsored Goldline International and Superior Gold Group “after receiving over 100 complaints from consumers who claimed to have lost thousands of dollars after investing.” Yikes.

And on Monday, more bad news for the Beck-sponsored Superior Gold.

According to Mother Jones, “At the request of prosecutors from LA County and Santa Monica city who have filed a civil suit against the company, Los Angeles County judge has ordered that Superior Gold be placed into receivership and all of its assets—bank accounts, real estate, and presumably gold stored for customers—frozen. On Monday, a court-appointed lawyer actually physically seized control of the company, presumably to prevent further wrongdoing. The lawsuit alleged that among other things, Superior had defrauded its customers by overcharging them, fraudulently inducing them to buy overpriced collectors’ coins rather than the bullion that they wanted, and taking customers’ money for coins they never produced. The prosecutors hope that the lawsuit will provide restitution for all of the company’s ripped off customers. The judge will hold a hearing later this month to decide whether the company’s assets should remain frozen until the case goes to trial.”

This development does not bode well for the companies’ claims that investigators only targeted them because liberals despised Beck. No, this development makes it clear that the complaints must be entirely legitimate, seeing as though this is about as drastic a step as can be taken.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Beck fights back with a paranoid “our government is out to get me” screed on his broadcasts in response, or whether he lets it go. If he stays tight-lipped, you’d have to think even he knows this fraud is about to come crashing down like his profiteering vision of the U.S. economy.

MOST RECENT BY HVmedia:

• Merging TIME and Newsweek's Latest Covers
• HTS Round-up: Barkley Taunts Romney, Coke Tampons & North Carolina Incest
• Teen Boys Pimping Older Girls in Sacramento