tonight on "nightline" -- fo gold mine. glenn beck is their prominent endorser. >> are they ripping off american consumers? it's a "nightline" investigation. the long good-bye -- this couple is divorcing. but because they can't sell their home, they are still under the same roof. so what happens when a family broken apart has to live together? and oil's well. the leak has been capped for now. it's the "nightline" guide to the oil spill by the numbers.

good evening. i'm terry moran. we begin with gold. in the booming market for the precious metal in these hard economic times. they call it the flight to quality. investors looking for safe belts. and one particular company, gold line, based in california, is really flying high in the gold market right now. with the enthusiastic endorsement of fox television host glenn beck and former presidential candidates mike huckabee and fred thompson. this evening the los angeles district attorney has announced he's opening an investigation into that company which some investors allege have cost them thousands of hard-earned dollar. chief investigative correspondent brian ross is here with the story. >> reporter: authorities in california said today they had opened an investigation into a hugely successful company called gold line.

gold line sells hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold to american consumers every year. using two former presidential candidates and several top personalities at fox news in its sales pitches. >> thank you for calling gold line. >> reporter: when customers called gold line, located in this office building in santa monica, california, they are assured they are in good hands. >> now, just so you know, glenn beck is a client here. we've been working with him. we've been a client of his on fox news. >> i like to call the three "g" system here for this. it's god, gold and guns. >> reporter: fox news talk show host glenn beck makes no secret of his calls to buy gold in troubled economic times. and of his endorsement of gold line. >> -- the people that i trust are the people at gold line and you can talk to the people on the phone. they're not going to pressure you. it's the right thing for you and your family. and you want some insurance,

trust the people at gold line. >> reporter: not so fast. according to the los angeles district attorney's office and the santa monica city attorney. goldline and another santa monica-based company are now under investigation after more than 100 complaints from aren't the country. >> there are two main types of complaints we're seeing. one is that customers say they were lied to and misled entering into their purchases of gold coins. and the other group is saying they received something different than what they had ordered. >> reporter: one of the complaints comes from 63-year-old joe gismartin, who lives outside of detroit. he says what he heard from glenn beck and elsewhere made a lot of sense. >> give us a call today. >> they got the commercials on tv and the way the economy was going, i figure, maybe i'll just do it, for inflation, in case

something happens for the economy, it bottoms out, i got something to fall back on, gold, rather than money, losing all my money. >> reporter: but he says he ended up losing almost half of the $5,000 he spent with goldline, because he says the goldline salesman pressured him to buy overpriced gold coins, not the gold bull ion he had sen in the commercial. >> i told the gentleman i didn't want coins. he goes, no, no, no, it's a good deal. he kind of more or less talked me into buying the gold coins. >> reporter: goldline says it marks up such coins by as much as 35%. when kismartin took his coins to a local coin shop, he was told his $5,000 worth of gold coins from goldline were both only $2,900. >> i'm on a fixed income. it kind of hurt my pocket real

bad. you're taking their word, they're going to give you the best deal possible, you know? but it seemed to me like he was just trying to make the best deal possible for him and not me. >> reporter: this person of sacramento says the same thing happened to her with goldline. she was persuaded to buy $13,000 worth of overpriced swiss gold coins. each one priced at $250. goldline told us march should be ahead on her investment. but that's not what she says she found. >> i was recently laid off so i was looking for getting back some of my money and i found that the most i could get back for one of these was about $207 now. >> reporter: and that's despite the fact the price of gold has almost doubled since she bought the coins three years ago. >> i just really felt like i was suckered. i really felt this was a reputable company i could feel pretty safe with. >> reporter: the push to get consumers to buy gold coins instead of pure gold bullion is

at the heart of goldline's alleged scheme, according to new york democratic congressman anthony wiener, who plans to hold congressional hearings on the issue. >> once they get people on the phone, they basically steer them into these so-called collectible coin and that's where the rip-off becomes really profound. >> reporter: some angry customers say goldline invokes glenn beck, citing his frequent warnings that only gold coins are safe from government seizure. >> fdr said, we're going to take all your gold and, gee, it's worth $8 now, but some people got smart and they said, well, wait a minute, i've got antique coins. you can't melt these down. these are antique coins. >> reporter: that's what zoanne says she was told by goldline. >> and that that would make your investment more secure because the government couldn't come in and take your gold basically. >> reporter: that's what a goldline salesperson told a researcher for a liberal

watchdog group, media matters, citing glenn beck. >> when it comes to holding physical gold, there's a couple concerns our clients have. are you concerned with what happened in 1933? glenn beck talks about this very often. >> yeah, i wanted to ask you about that. >> glenn beck says, look, they've confiscated bullion before. i don't want them messing with my gold. so they exemted any coins that had a recognized special value to collectors. >> reporter: included in the sales brochure material is a replica of what it says is the 1933 edict from the federal government ordering the seizure of gold. >> it is absolutely not true that the government has any power to come confiscate your gold or confiscate your currency. but that fear is profound. and very often, the very same commentators that are stoking that fear are also selling these coins. >> reporter: who are you talking about? >> well, you know, a lot of attention has been paid to my conflict with glenn beck on this and he's very big, a giant audience. but he's not alone.

>> reporter: the goldline website features a who's who of conservative commentators who endorse the company. including former presidential candidate fred thompson. >> our choice for gold is goldline. >> reporter: former presidential candidate mike huckabee. >> the people at goldline will explain just how easy it is for you to buy gold. >> reporter: and most prominently, glenn beck. >> good enough for glenn beck, good enough for you. 866-goldline. >> there is an unholy alliance, i call it, between the commentators on fox news and fox news' advertising policies to sell ads to these guys. >> reporter: fox news says it has never received a single complaint about goldline. and on his fox program, beck said, wiener was engaging in mccarthy-like tactics and said the investigation he conducted was a joke. >> the only way to deal with a joke of an investigation is to treat it like a joke of an investigation. >> reporter: that points to the company's a-plus rating from the better business bureau. and in a statement to abc news,

beck said he expects audience to be well treated by goldline. >> if you're going to advocate for buying gold, it's certainly your right to do that. but you should tell your viewers there's a dumb way and a smart way to buy gold. and very often, those advertisements are for a very dumb way to buy gold. >> no one from goldline would agree to appear in our report. but in a letter to abc news, the company said all risks are fully disclosed. there's a seven-day money-back guarantee. and that all complaints are investigated. and goldline remains a prominent advertiser on fox and other cable outlets. despite the ongoing cable outlets. despite the ongoing investigations in los angeles and by congress, which plans hearings on the subject in the next few weeks. terry. >> read the fine print always terry. >> read the fine print always and talk to a financial adviser. thanks for that report. when we come back, we've got a real-life war of the roses. husband and wife divorcing. but forced by the bad housing market to live in the same home.

so how does that work out? you'll find out in a few moments. [ male announcer ] first is fast. first is 4g, but plays nice with 3g as well. first has an 8-megapixel hd camera and can stream live video to the web. first has an hdmi out. ♪ first shares wi-fi with 8 devices at once. first is not stephen furst, who played flounder in animal house. first has a kickstand for watching video. what will you do first with evo, the first 4g phone? only from sprint, the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. if you're taking an antidepressant and still feel depressed, one option your doctor may consider is adding abilify. abilify treats depression in adults when added to an antidepressant. some people had symptom improvement in as early as one to two weeks after adding abilify. now with the abilify (me+) program,

your first two weeks of abilify can be free. abilify is not for everyone. call your doctor if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life-threatening condition. or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it. in some cases, extreme high blood sugar can lead to coma or death. other risks include decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness upon standing, seizures, trouble swallowing, and impaired judgment or motor skills. adding abilify has made a difference for me. [ male announcer ] visit abilifyoffer.com for your free trial offer. and ask your doctor about the risks and benefits of adding abilify.

♪

ye ♪ look, they fit! oh my gosh, are those the jeans from last year? how'd you do it? simple stuff... eating right...whole grain. whole grain? [ female announcer ] people who eat more whole grain tend to have healthier body weights. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains and 110 lightly sweetened calories. more grains. less you! multigrain cheerios. there was a time not so long ago that real estate made it easy to finance all sorts of things. the new car, college for the kids, maybe even a big beautiful wedding. and later if everything didn't quite work out as it planned, you could sell the house and split the asset and start over after a divorce. well, not anymore. for many americans, the collapse in the housing market has meant they can't afford to end their

marriages. as my "nightline" co-anchor cynthia mcfadden reports, breaking up is getting harder to do. >> arizona's a beautiful state. i think people were living off their credit cards. i built my business based on the credit cards. >> reporter: when the housing market collapsed in phoenix, so did don's home electronic's business. >> so it was real hard. >> reporter: soon, it seemed, everything else he had was collapsing too. >> when the credit cards went and everything else went with it, it's difficult. it put a lot of strain on our relationship. >> reporter: one of the casualties was his marriage to his wife, dawn. >> we have a lot of problems. and a lot of financial problems. and that causes, you know, other things in our lives. >> it's all about survival right now. >> reporter: he went bankrupt and the bank foreclosed on their home. >> you know what are we going to do, what are we going to do, what are we going to do? as a man, it's tough to hear

that all the time because it's our responsibility to provide. it was much easier for me to get away from that and say, i'll do the best i can do, and that's all i can do. this is going to be a little difficult. this is the first time i've been back here. >> reporter: they decided to separate. >> it's tough. >> reporter: though they are living apart, they cannot end their marriage. they don't have the $10,000 to $15,000 it will cost them to legally divorce. >> you want to talk stress, look at that house and think all my life savings is in that house. >> reporter: they're left trying to raise what money they can buy selling their possessions at this yard sale. >> this 1968 -- or 1980 yankees. these are things that i've had most of my life. and to part with them is very difficult. >> reporter: but the house was their most valuable asset. without it, no divorce. >> all the memories here. >> 164 to henry going one, twice. sold -- >> reporter: the burns are not

alone. a collapse of the housing market is reshaping the way people marry and divorce across the country. >> 127,662. t the. >> reporter: in downtown phoenix every weekday, dreams go up for sale as foreclosed homes are auctioned off. >> average day is anywhere from around 30 to 50 homes. >> reporter: in parts of phoenix, the market is down nearly 50%. across town, chris and sherry are stuck living together, even though they are getting divorced. they were married 17 years when they decided to end it. now, five months into their divorce proceedings, they can't separate because they can't sell their house. >> i just really need to get away. i need to get away. i can't get away because of the market, because of the phoenix market, i cannot -- i cannot get away. >> reporter: so, until they can sell their million-dollar hope, the stewarts are living under

the same roof. at first, they thought it might be an advantage. a transition period for the kids. >> do you want to get a paper towel? >> reporter: instead of an abrupt and painful separation, a good and gradual divorce. >> you told dad about your dental appointment? >> reporter: as weeks stretched into months, it didn't turn out that way. >> you think it would be easier if we didn't see each other all the time? >> yeah, you know, i think it brings a sense of finality to it much soon are if you're able to split apart. you know, at times it almost feels like nothing has changed. >> reporter: except the arguing got worse. >> now what do you mean by that? >> because i think you're frustrated -- >> so what? >> i think you're thinking i'm trying to screw you right now, that's what i think you're thinking. >> so the wrong frame of mind? you're treating me like a child. >> reporter: the stress that brings is starting to wear on their children. >> we haven't been talking about it much. >> reporter: is that better? do you -- >> i'd rather not talk about it

than to talk about it 'cause it's very emotional when we talk about the divorce. >> reporter: you've had enough of this now? you're ready for this to be over? >> i'm done. >> reporter: from the outside, it sure looked like you had the perfect family. >> yeah, it really does. all my friends are like, what, they're getting divorced? >> it's weird because you're just, like, stuck. and, like, i'm eager to move on too because you're just like stuck in this one spot and you can't do anything about it. >> reporter: sherry tries to console her middle child. >> i just want it to be over with. because i know what's going to happen. but it, like, won't. it won't just be over with so we can start getting used to what it's going to be like. >> you're ready for that? >> yeah. >> i'm sorry. >> it's not your fault though. >> i'm sorry. well -- your dad and i both did stuff. >> reporter: having both your

parents live here, has that made it easier or harder do you think? >> um, i think for a while it did make it a lot easier. but after three, four, five months it started getting -- we were ready to just move on. and it just won't -- it won't move on and it won't do that, especially 'cause we can't sell the house yet. >> reporter: so would you recommend to anybody else to live together while they were divorcing? >> no. i think that this is -- comes out of necessity, not out of -- >> reporter: a good idea? >> it's not a better way to do it. >> reporter: it isn't a better way to do it? >> no. for a while, think it was good for the kid. for a while. i think they've had enough now. >> reporter: they want it over. >> yeah. >> it wasn't until the kids said to me, it's time to sell the house. >> reporter: they've had it. >> and i'm kicking myself for not listing the house earlier. >> reporter: nine months into their divorce proceedings, the stewarts were all still living

in the same home. so is there anything such thing as a good divorce? is this a good divorce? >> a good divorce? i can't put those two words together. it doesn't feel like that to me. it feels like my heart's getting ripped apart. it feels like i'm trudging through mud sometimes. it's like it's never going to end. so if this is a good one, i can't imagine going through what those other people did. >> well, the stewarts divorce was finalized in april. just last week, sherry stewart finally moved to a new home. you can see cynthia's full hour tomorrow night on "prime time, family secrets" at 10:00, 9:00 central. when we come back, breaking news from the oil spill. latest on the operation to stop the leak. bgecko: ah, thank you,n isi. as we all know,. geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and traile insurance... ...as well as motorccle insurance...

oh...sorry, techical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? um...maybe that one. ♪ (dance music plays) boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we were on motorcycle insurance. anncr: take fifteen minutes to see how much you could save on motorcycle, rv, and amper insurance. there's oil out there we've got to capture. my job is to hunt it down. i'm fred lemond, and i'm in charge of bp's efforts to remove oil from these waters. bp has taken full responsibility for the cleanup and that includes keeping you informed. every morning, over 50 spotter planes and helicopters take off and search for the oil. we use satellite images, infrared and thermal photography to map and target the oil. then, the boats go to work. almost 6,000 vessels. these are thousands of local shrimp and fishing boats organized into task forces and strike teams. plus, specialized skimmers from around the world. we've skimmed over 27 million gallons of oil/water mixture

and removed millions more with other methods. we've set out more than 8 million feet of boom to protect the shoreline. i grew up on the gulf coast and i love these waters. we can't keep all the oil from coming ashore, but i'm gonna do everything i can to stop it, and we'll be here as long as it takes to clean up the gulf. c [ maget readycer ] for the ride of your life. turkey & bacon avocado. wipeout in waves of tender turkey and crispy bacon. gaze upon the rad rainbow of voluminous veggies and cool, sea-green avocado all on freshly baked bread. are you up for the ultimate? ♪ then you've got to try the totally new subway ultimate turkey & bacon avocado. carve one up today.

crank up the flavor at subway. "meg whitman says she'll run california like her company..." seen this attack on meg whitman? who are these people? they're the unions and special interests behind jerry brown. they want jerry brown because, he won't "rock the boat," in sacramento. he'll be the same as he ever was. high taxes. lost jobs. big pensions for state employees. the special interests have chosen their governor. how about you?

[ wind howling ] [ male announcer ] it balances you... [ water crashing ] [ male announcer ] ...it fills you with energy... and it gives you what you're looking for to live a more natural life, in a convenient two bar pack. this is nature valley... delicious granola bars made with 100% natural ingredients. nature valley. 100% natural, 100% delicious. there are new concerns in the gulf of mexico tonight. it appears that bp's ruptured well is leaking again for the first time since the new stacking cap was put in place just last week. concerned officials have been

closely monitoring the situation. so far, the leaks appear to be too minor to warrant unseal the cap and unleashing the gushing river of oil. what about the oil that has already been spilled into the gulf? our john donvan brings us up to date on the oil spill by the numbers. >> reporter: let's count days since they capped the gusher at the bottom the gulf. four. days since the gusher blew in the first place, 91. the money british petroleum's had to spend in the days between, $3.95 billion. of which $50 million has gone to tv commercials in which bp says they're sorry. >> every day, we're working with residents and local business owners to make sure these beaches are clean and that they can stay open and our efforts won't come at any cost to taxpayers. >> reporter: $207 million bp dollars have gone to paying 67,000 damage claims of 117,000 claims made so far. while louisiana got $15 million bp dollars to promote tourism,

so did mississippi and alabama. >> so come on down, we'd love to see you. >> reporter: $25 million, that's what florida got, for the same purpose. >> there are plenty of places in florida where you can enjoy crystal-clear waters. >> reporter: beaches closed from louisiana to florida, 615. birds found dead, almost 3,000. sea turtles, 500. human mammals involved in the cleanup, 40,000. some of them on board 5,000 vessels and 100 aircraft. families grieving workers killed in the initial explosion, 11. percentage of the gulf's pristine fishing waters still closed, 35. number of failed attempts to cap the well before finally getting it, eight. percentage of certainty that this time it will hold, question mark. tonight, the news is the government's found oil seeping again and is watching it carefully. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> and we'll be watching it too for sure. thanks to john van damme for

that. when we come back, building a mosque near new york city's ground zero. that's the subject of tonight's closing argument. first, here's jimmy. >> tonight we're back with kyra sedgwick, jay baruchel, music from n.e.r.d. [ fema announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart.

but this is warm, fresh-baked strawberry toaster strudel. [ music ] see the difference? pillsbury toaster strudel, the one kids want to eat. ♪ whoa! do you know what our favorite part of shooting hoops is? 3...2...1... overtime! ♪ ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh