A Michigan dealer of coins, jewelry, and metals has been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of customer funds to gamble.
Between July 2022 and January 2024, Matthew Joseph Burton, 52, allegedly defrauded dozens of customers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In one instance, a victim allegedly lost up to $120,000 attempting to buy gold through two of Burton’s stores in the Mt. Pleasant area. During the time of his alleged frauds, Burton gambled $5.1 million on slots at the local Soaring Eagle Casino, prosecutors said.
In mid-September, Burton was charged with half-a-dozen felony false pretense charges. They started at $1,000 to $20,000, and went up to charges of $100,000 or more. He remains in custody. This week, his court date was arranged for November 8.
The Charges
Isabella County Sherrif’s Office began investigating reports of delayed transactions at Burton’s businesses in July 2022. He owned and operated the stores Jack of All Trades in Mount Pleasant and Flying Eagle Coins in nearby Bay City.
The Michigan State Police and Mount Pleasant Police also received complaints about the two businesses.
Although he was investigated by three different law enforcement agencies on similar complaints, Butler is alleged to have continued defrauding customers for two years after he was first investigated. Prosecutors say over this period, he stalled customers and investigators with excuses, deliberately made himself hard to contact, and often left Michigan for months at a time.
When police finally caught up with him, they found receipts from the Soaring Eagle Casino. The casino provided investigators Burton’s play activity. Prosecutors say it shows he played $5.18 million through slot machines between when the investigations began in 2022 and his arrest.
In October 2023, records show Burton visited the casino every day but two. And on almost all those days, he was gambling between $5,000 and $100,000.
Investigators say they received a complaint from a 72-year-old man who said he gave Flying Eagle Coins $20,000 to act as a middleman in a gold and silver purchase. But he only received half the amount he paid for. The same day of that alleged transaction, records show Burton spent $32,000 playing slots at the casino.
Burton withdrew some $4 million in winnings over the period of the alleged fraud, but still failed to pay back his clients, court documents said.
“On Facebook, Matt is posting pictures in a suite at the Lions game, so he’s living large on my dime,” one alleged victim told police, according to local news outlet MassLive.
The Consequences
Burton was arrested on September 13 after law enforcement finally tracked him down. He was charged with half-a-dozen counts of obtaining money by false pretense at various levels, including over $100,000.
His case will be dealt with separately between Isabella and Bay Counties, as those are where his former businesses were located.
He has been held without bail in Isabella County Jail since his arrest. This week, he appeared in Bay County District Court, where he had a preliminary hearing set for November 22. He has an appearance already scheduled in Isabella County Court on November 8. If found guilty on all counts, he could face up to 50 years in jail and a fine of up to $1 million.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
