World Mint Work Group joining anti-counterfeiting effort
By Industry Council for Tangible Assets ……
Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) Chairman Philip N. Diehl has announced the appointment of Greg Allen as chair of the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (ACTF) Steering Committee.
ACTF Steering Committee members serve as leaders of more than a dozen Work Groups comprised of some 40 experts who volunteer their time and expertise to advance the mission of the task force, which includes mobilizing law enforcement to combat counterfeiting and providing training and education for law enforcement, the numismatic community, and the public about counterfeits of circulating, collector, and bullion coins as well as precious metals bars.
Allen is president and chief manager of Greg Allen Coin, LLC. He has been an active ICTA Board member since 2008 and has been an ACTF Steering Committee member since its inception in 2017, where he also chaired the Laws and Regulations Work Group. He also serves as secretary of the board of directors of the non-profit Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation.
Allen succeeds Joe DeRosa of Loomis International, who served as the first chair of the ACTF Steering Committee. DeRosa will continue to serve as a member of the Transport/Storage Security Work Group.
Diehl also announced the establishment of the World Mints Work Group, a new group under ACTF’s umbrella that will bring much needed expertise to assist law enforcement in dealing with counterfeits of popular bullion coins and bars sold throughout the world.
The initial members of the World Mints Work Group include the Royal Canadian Mint, to be represented by Dave Norris; the Austrian Mint, to be represented by Andrea Lang; the Royal Australian Mint, to be represented by Mark Cartwright; and the Perth Mint, whose representative will be named later.
Other ACTF changes include three new appointees to work groups and the reorganization of two work groups.
Lee Anne Patterson and Robert Oberth will join the Research Work Group. Patterson represents Stealth Mark, a company engaged in developing anti-counterfeiting technology and mapping behavior patterns of those intent upon doing harm to the coin industry by devaluing the market with counterfeits. Oberth is founder of Coin Dealers Helping Coin Dealers Roundtable Group, currently comprised of more than 800 dealers.
Due to the differing needs of identified constituents, the Education Work Group and the Law Enforcement Liaison Work Groups are being reorganized into the Education-Law Enforcement Work Group and the Numismatic/Public Education Work Group.
Steve Crogan will be joining Bill Daddio, Doug Davis, and Joe Boche in the Education-Law Enforcement Work Group. Crogan currently chairs the International Precious Metals Institute’s Security Council. Since retirement as a Supervisory Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security-ICE, Crogan has worked in private sector security investigations within the precious metals industry.
Members of the Numismatic-Public Education Work Group include Michael Fuljenz, Robert Campbell, John Schuch II and Jeff Garrett.
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Formed in January 2017, the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force’s mission is to mobilize law enforcement to defend the nation’s coinage by educating officials about the economic impact and growing threat counterfeits pose to the marketplace and the public. ACTF serves as the coin industry’s liaison with law enforcement and policy makers, assisting in the investigation and prosecution of suspects involved in all aspects of coin counterfeiting. It also provides education, expertise, and other resources to law enforcement to assist in curtailing the manufacture, importation, marketing, and sale of counterfeit coins, related fakes of precious metals products, and counterfeit security packaging.
ACTF is totally funded through donations from businesses and individuals made directly to the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation, the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity that funds the work and mission of the ACTF.
