“The Princess Diaries” star Erik von Detten is being sued for elder abuse and fraud by a 97-year-old man and his wife who claim the gold coins he sold them while repping a precious metals firm were a ripoff and cost them a chunk of their retirement savings.
Norman and Sheila Greenberg, 85, are also suing Rosland Capital, the Los Angeles-based precious-metals dealer von Detten worked for, TMZ reported Tuesday.
When the couple reached out to Rosland in 2020, it was one of the biggest precious metals dealerships in the country, known for its ubiquitous television ads featuring actor William Devane and other celebrity spokespeople. The couple were handed von Detten as the company rep. He convinced them to invest nearly their entire $2 million retirement pot into Lady Liberty gold coins.
Von Detten, 44, was an early 2000s heartthrob and had a prolific acting career until opting out of Hollywood around 2010. Besides playing student Josh Bryant in “The Princess Diaries,” he voiced villainous Sid in “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 3” and guest-starred on numerous television shows. According to his IMDb profile, he started acting again in 2024. The Daily News has reached out to his representative.
The Greenbergs first ordered about $1 million in Lady Liberty coins from the former child star that were sent straight to a warehouse, their suit alleges, so they never even saw the goods. That repeated when Von Detten bought another $1 million in coins. Sometime later the couple learned their precious purchase had come with a massive premium markup and were worth about $1.3 million rather than the $2.1 million they had paid, according to the lawsuit cited by TMZ.
They sued in May to recoup $900,000 in losses and demand damages, TMZ reported. They also claimed Rosland’s marketing plays on senior citizens’ fears about making their savings last by pitching precious metals as more stable than any financial account.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Erik Von Detten, pictured in 2001, starred in “The Princess Diaries”. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Rosland filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, leaving investors in the lurch nationwide. Customers were owed a collective $49 million for pre-paid precious metals they never received and almost $12 million in unfulfilled buyback commitments, WTMJ-TV reported at the time. Plans were to liquidate all assets, according to The Street. Von Detten’s status with the company was unclear Tuesday, since The Street noted that all Rosland’s employees had been let go in June.
The company was already in the Better Business Bureau’s sights before that. Though Rosland was not accredited with the consumer agency, the BBB investigated the firm and gave it an F based on “failure to respond to 80 complaints,” plus three more than were never resolved.