Numismatics Expert’s Testimony on the Proper Classification of the Coins Admitted
Posted on July 23, 2025 by Expert Witness Profiler
This is a fraud action the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and thirty States (collectively, the “government”) brought against Lucas Asher and Simon Batashvili (Individual Defendants) and the entities through which they operated.
This case deals with Metals.com and the precious metals it sold to consumers from approximately 2017 to 2020. Through Metals.com, TMTE, Inc., Chase Metals, LLC, and Chase Metals, Inc. (collectively, “Metals”), and later through Barrick Capital, Inc. (Barrick), Individual Defendants sold gold and silver bullion to consumers on their website and over the phone—some as retail sales delivered straight to the buyer and some as investments delivered to third-party depositories.
The Individual Defendants filed a motion to exclude the testimony of the government’s expert, Dana Samuelson, and the government, in turn, filed a motion to exclude the testimony of the Individual Defendants’ expert, Armen Moloian.

Numismatics Expert Witnesses
Dana S. Samuelson is a professional numismatist and expert in the precious metals and rare coins markets with more than 42 years of experience. He is the Founder and President of American Gold Exchange, Inc., a leading national precious metals and rare coin company specializing in dealer-to-dealer trading and direct sales to the public.
Samuelson is also a member of the American Numismatic Association (since 1983), a nonprofit dedicated to the study of numismatics and the hobby of coin collecting, and the Certified Coin Exchange (since 1998), a national precious metals and rare coin online trading platform.
Armen Moloian is a respected Numismatic Dealer in Southern California. He is currently the president of Moloian Enterprises, a California Corporation. Moloian has been a professional collectibles dealer since 2006, and has been a coin collector since 1970.
Moloian has been trained in Error and Counterfeit Detection.
Discussion by the Court
Dana Samuelson
The government designated Dana Samuelson as an expert on coin classifications, precious metal valuations for the coins Individual Defendants sold, the spread between the prices Individual Defendants paid suppliers for the coins and the price they charged to customers, and the economic impacts of the pricing.
The Individual Defendants argued that his methodology failed to account for certain factors—such as market prices, exclusivity, and the uniqueness of certain ‘Exclusive Coins’—and was subjective rather than based on industry-accepted or scientific approaches to price analysis.
The Court had no doubt that Samuelson’s testimony was relevant, since it addressed how the coins should be classified and what they were worth. And he has years of experience buying and selling precious metals like the ones at issue in this case, including a quarter decade acting as the president of a national exchange specializing in dealer-to-dealer trading and retail sales to the public.
Individual Defendants attacked the reliability, not the relevance of Samuelson’s testimony. They argued that his approach is untested, but Samuelson estimated that nine out of ten dealers would use the same method he did. And while Individual Defendants call that method an economic model, the government counters that it is merely simple math that does not require error calculations. It is, after all, the jury’s role to weigh conflicting opinions such as this.
Armen Moloian
Individual Defendants designated Armen Moloian to testify on Samuelson’s valuation methodology, the appropriate methodology for valuing the relevant precious metals, and the current valuation of their products.
The government sought to exclude Moloian’s testimony on the grounds that it is not the product of reliable methodology, is not based on sufficient facts or data, and is not a reliable application of his methodology to the facts of this case.
The Court found Moloian’s testimony clearly relevant—just like Samuelson’s—and noted that he has substantial industry experience, even if not as extensive as Samuelson’s. It also observed that the criticisms of Moloian’s methods closely mirror those raised against Samuelson’s.
Held
- The Court denied the Individual Defendants’ motion to exclude the testimony of Government’s expert, Dana S. Samuelson.
- The Court denied the Government’s motion to exclude the testimony of Individual Defendants’ expert Armen Moloian.
Key Takeaway:
Both experts appealed to their experience in the industry to confirm that their approaches aligned with the normal approach, even if there is no technical standard for calculating the market value of precious metal coins.
Case Details:
Case Caption: | Commodity Futures Trading Commission Et Al V. TMTE, Inc |
Docket Number: | 3:20cv2910 |
Court Name: | United States District Court, Texas Northern |
Order Date; | July 21, 2025 |