A former executive with a fake manufacturing business in Gainesville has been sentenced to federal prison in connection with six federal counts related to fraud.
Stuart B. Palmer, founder of Gold Coast Manufacturing Inc., was recently sentenced on six counts to which he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida. He’ll be imprisoned for five months.
A federal grand jury charged Palmer with a string of fraud-related allegations that occurred between December 2021 and May 2024. Palmer “did knowingly and willfully devise and intended to devise a scheme to defraud and for obtaining money and property by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises and for the purpose of executing such scheme did cause wire communications to be transmitted in interstate commerce,” the federal indictment stated.
The case centers on Palmer founding his company and then attempting to gin up investment by forming what he called a “founder’s circle.” The company was founded on the false claim to produce and manufacture replicas of the “Bren 10” pistols, which were the 10 mm firearms often featured in the 1980s crime and detective television series Miami Vice.
Palmer charged investors a fee to join the founder’s circle. He recruited members through a now-defunct Facebook group on the internet social media platform. According to federal prosecutors, Palmer knew there was no production of the replica firearms that was underway, yet he was still able to garner investment funds from people.
According to the document outlining the federal indictment, Palmer took the funds and then used them for personal expenses that had nothing to do with manufacturing firearms. Palmer also made fraudulent claims over three years that Gold Coast Manufacturing had established space to produce the weapons. In reality, no such manufacturing space had ever been acquired.
Palmer backed up his false production claims with bogus and doctored photographs that led investors to believe the company was operational. In reality, according to federal investigators, any potential manufacturing agreement never progressed beyond initial specifications for a firearm, and he never paid in full for any initial design work.
Ultimately, according to federal prosecutors, Palmer was able to obtain approximately $64,460 from the would-be investors. As part of the plea deal, Palmer has to surrender any proceeds he made from the fraudulent business to the federal government.
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