Ex-Disney Star Erik von Detten Sued Over Alleged $2.1M Gold Coin Scheme
Former Disney star Erik von Detten, best known for "Brink!" and "The Princess Diaries," is being sued by an elderly California couple who claim he steered them into spending more than $2 million of their retirement savings on overpriced gold coins.
Sheila Greenberg, 85, and her husband, Norman Greenberg, 97, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against von Detten and his former employer, Rosland Capital, a company that buys and sells precious metals, Fox News reported. The suit accuses them of financial elder abuse, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and conversion.
The allegations have not yet been proven in court.
How the Couple Says It Happened
According to the complaint, the Greenbergs reached out to Rosland in 2020 after seeing TV ads that promoted gold as a safe way to protect their wealth. They were assigned to von Detten, described in the lawsuit as "one of the company's top advisors." At the time, their retirement accounts held more than $2 million.
The couple says they told him they knew little about investing in gold. "Von Detten earned Sheila's and Norman's trust. They believed him to be an expert and thus placed their faith completely in Von Detten," the court documents state.
The lawsuit claims von Detten "hounded" the couple to keep investing and that Rosland "likely" saw them as a "whale," a term for a big-spending customer. It also claims the company's marketing was "designed in large part to appeal to senior citizens through their television and internet advertising, direct mail brochures, and high-pressure boiler-room type sales practices."
The Gold Coin Purchases
On Oct. 19, 2020, the couple bought just over $999,000 worth of Lady Liberty gold coins, according to the suit. That purchase allegedly lost more than $367,000 in value almost immediately.
Weeks later, on Nov. 5, 2020, they spent more than $1.14 million on more coins, which allegedly lost more than $418,000 right away. In August 2021, they used their family trust to buy nearly $200,000 more in specialty coins.
In all, the couple says they paid about $2.15 million for coins worth roughly $1.36 million. The lawsuit claims the coins were sold at about a 60% markup, with the couple paying around $3,009 per ounce when the spot price of gold was about $1,903.
The Greenbergs never actually received the coins. They were sent to a storage facility in Delaware, and the couple kept paying storage and account fees. According to the complaint, their entire traditional IRA accounts were rolled into the gold and "depleted."
"Instead of helping them protect their hard-earned wealth, Defendants helped themselves to it," the lawsuit states.
How They Found Out
The couple says they did not realize they had been overcharged until 2025. That is when a representative from another gold company suggested Rosland did things differently, and Sheila began researching the company's practices using artificial intelligence.
They are seeking at least $900,000 in damages, along with double damages, punitive damages, interest, attorneys' fees and a jury trial.
About seven weeks after the lawsuit was filed, Rosland Capital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, LiveNOW from Fox reported.
From Disney Star to Gold Advisor
Von Detten became a familiar face to a generation of kids in the 1990s and 2000s. He starred in the Disney Channel movie "Brink!," played Josh Bryant in "The Princess Diaries" and voiced Sid, the toy-wrecking neighbor in "Toy Story." He joined Rosland Capital in 2018, according to SoapCentral.
Von Detten has not publicly addressed the lawsuit, and a representative did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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