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    Apr 29th 2007

    I recently posted some information and my opinions that ‘e-gold had hit the wall’.

    It was clear early in the day, Friday, that many large e-gold accounts had been frozen or blocked by a US government action. Additional information early in the day on why or how government authorities ‘froze’ the accounts was unknown.

    Late Friday afternoon the Justice Department put out a press release stating what action had taken place. This information enlightened us all on why the e-gold exchange agents’ accounts had been frozen and what may happen to e-gold Ltd. from this day forward. We’re getting copies now of the actual court docs but reading the will probably take a week.

    Many facts are still unclear and everyone who reads this should remember that persons indicted are innocent until proven otherwise. So any mischief discussed here is only alleged to have occurred. Also understand that a grand jury is a tool of the prosecution. Grand jury indictments are not the final word they are the first word.

    What happened?

    Early Friday, it was reported on the 1MDC web site that major e-gold exchange agents’ accounts, including 1MDC, had been frozen by a US Government court order or similar document. Later in the day Friday, several news organizations released stories based on the Department of Justice press release.

    The four-count indictment, handed down on April 24, 2007, and unsealed today, charges E‑Gold Ltd; Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc.; and their owners Dr. Douglas L. Jackson, of Satellite Beach, Fla.; Reid A. Jackson, of Melbourne, Fla.; and Barry K. Downey, of Woodbine, Md., each with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business under federal law and one count of money transmission without a license under D.C. law. *usdoj.gov

    The indictment alleges that the defendants conducted funds transfers on behalf of their customers, knowing that the funds involved were the proceeds of unlawful activity; namely child exploitation, credit card fraud, and wire (investment) fraud; and thereby violated federal money laundering statutes. *prnewswire.com

    What account were frozen?

    The accounts that were targeted by the investigation and alleged to have been involved with the illegal activity were frozen and that appears to have been only accounts owned by some larger exchange agents and the 1MDC account(s)

    “Subsequent to the indictment, the Department of Justice also obtained a restraining order on the defendants to prevent the dissipation of assets by the defendants, and 24 seizure warrants on over 58 accounts believed to be property involved in money laundering and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business.” * prnewswire.com

    Is e-gold still in business?

    There was no official information release from e-gold, Gold & Silver Reserve or OmniPay yet. Their web site is still up, funds still transfer and it appears YES! No one knows yet what will happen in the coming days. However, we are taking an educated guess that they[gov] will allow ‘outexchanges’, redemptions…whatever you want to call it, account holders should be able to get national currency from an agents (if you choose to sell). It seems that the government will allow e-gold / GS&R et al. are allowed to sell bars in storage for exchange of national currency to account holders, under their supervision and with prior approval. We believe they are NOT allowed to buy any gold and sell any e-gold digital currency, only outexchange. So the bar count will only go down from here.

    Can I get the funds out of my e-gold?

    It would appear YES, but no one is sure if you can liquidate immediately. If agents are buying, you can sell to them. I would think if you can transfer the digital money to an exchange agent and they are willing to pay you, its smart to seize that opportunity to get your cash. Again, this is our opinion based on the facts so far.

    The information reads that only the frozen accounts will be restricted, all other regular accounts are still open and contain value.

    The restraining order does not limit the E-Gold operation’s ability to use its existing funds to satisfy requests to exchange E-Gold into national currency for customers of non-seized accounts, or its ability to sell precious metals to accomplish the same, once approval has been received.” *pr-inside

    Not to fear….your funds look safe, however the last line above says, “…once approval has been received.” I’m not sure if that means the court has to approve the sale of gold and/or disbursements of funds. That’s unclear. It seems the funds are safe but may need approval from the .gov before they can be liquidated, that includes bars in storage but its not 100% clear.

    But as the wording reads above, they[e-gold] will be allowed to convert e-gold back to national currency for the existing account holders. Until someone points out different I assume that is the case.

    Is 1MDC out of business?

    Yes, 1MDC accounts that were backed by e-gold…..the e-gold was frozen/seized. That part of 1MDC is over. I don’t know how they are progressing with Pecunix or other currencies but perhaps we’ll get an update next week.

    All funds that were in 1MDC, are they gone or can I get them back?

    Good question, anyone know?

    Where do we go now for our online businesses?

    Why are they so hard on illegal [alleged] money transmitters?

    From Ian’s Financial Cryptography Web

    Which leaves operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. This is the core charge. As we recall, this law came in in the aftermath of 9/11, when a Hawala was found to have transmitted one of the payments needed to finance the terrorist attack (the vast majority of the funds went through normal bank transfers). This then started a war on Hawalas, and the regulations were put in place * with a clear offer: license yourself as a money transmitter or face the consequences.

    e-gold declined the offer. I recall that they argued they were not a money transmitter business because e-gold was not money, and the sales operation of Omnipay just used the banks to transmit the dollars back and forth. (This is from memory, these arguments were made in public in either the press or the mailing lists.)

    I don’t know about you, but that was a ludicrous position to take then, and now. It was pretty clear that the point was, come in from out of the wild wild west, or well go and hunt you down. To argue on a technicality like that was just insane, as courts will ignore such nonsense on the basis of a “reasonable man” test.

    Is e-gold more or less in the money transmitting business? A reasonable man will say yes.

    Mark, ePanama is the author and owner of Digital Money World
    Nobs Network E-gold Indictment Discussion Thread

    Popularity: 5% [?]



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    10 Responses to “E-gold Indictments & Current Situation”  

    1. Gravatar Icon 1 Annie

      Sharon thank you for this well-researched and stated article. :)
      Annie

    2. Gravatar Icon 2 sharonsopinion

      Passive Income Blog has some interesting information on the topic at http://www.internationalpassiveincome.com/Daily_Blog.html (Thanks HeyJude!)

      Annie: Thank you, but I didn’t write the article. The credit goes to Mark for an excellent article! Mark is a DGC expert. All of his articles are extremely informative and very well written. Click on his moniker, ePanama, under the article title to see what else he has written. Please visit his blog, listed above, to read other articles. Mark is a huge assest to the NoBS family and I deeply appreciate his insights!

      JMO,
      Sharon

    3. Gravatar Icon 3 Propellertop

      The excerpt from the Financial Cryptography Web is entirely off-base IMO. If you read the ‘News’ section on e-gold for January 2006, it clearly states that e-gold ASKED to be classified as a currency so they could comply with that specific legislation. It was the Treasury Department that decided outwise, not G&SR. As such, they couldn’t go after them again for that and, instead, chose to go after the exchangers and indict e-gold for their complicity in facilitating THAT.

    4. Gravatar Icon 4 ePanama

      Propellertop,

      Regarding this quote below from the e-gold web from 2006 ( http://www.e-gold.com/letter2.html ) , and being a currency exchange, the argument was about an MSB license back in 2006, I believe now they are referring to not Money Transmitter License, MTL is a State License, MSB is federal.
      “”…contention that G&SR has operated as a currency exchange without the proper license. G&SR had previously proposed to the Government that e-gold be classified for regulatory purposes as a currency, enabling G&SR to register as a currency exchange.”"

      You see what they have done, is file the allegation about running an illegal money transmitter service in Wash. DC as they say ‘that is where the client’s were’ and not Florida.

      Any crime committed or alleged crime within the jurisdiction of the District (Wash, DC) is a Federal offense. Any crime in a federal district and it automatically is a federal crime even stuff like a DUI that is federal. Very serious what has happened here.

      MH

    5. Gravatar Icon 5 David

      To tell the truth, E-Gold tried to applied for a money transmitter license nack in 2002 and 2004, and they were turned down because they did not fit into the likes of PayPal and all that. There is a government issue that is conflicting with each other. One agent said that they are not a money transmitter, and another said they are.

      Second, the Jutice Department right now is run by coruption as we speak doing the bidding of George W. Bush. There are hearings right now on the Hill in Washington DC over the firing of attornies who refuse to bring charges against democrats when there was nothing found to convict them with. So, bring in alberto Gonzalas, and bang, corruption with the firings, and bring in people who do the bidding of George W. Bush. I have written an E-mail to my state Senator about all this. I may suggest that you all contact your local congress and senators to make yourself heard, or we will have George W. Bush to continue dictate us.

    6. Gravatar Icon 6 Peter

      it remembers the case of pips:)

    7. Gravatar Icon 7 John Murphy

      More reasoned information being publicised here I’m glad to see. As in previous instances we will need to wait and see what actually transpires. Given the evidence which is plainly available some of the initial knee jerk negative reaction may need to be reined in. But then Patience is never one of the more practised virtues.

    8. Gravatar Icon 8 Bill Rogers

      Now, I can’t recall how big the worlds population is these days. I’m convinced its several billion.

      Now, I can’t recall how big the US population is these days. I’m convinced its several million.

      The best option for anyone using e-gold is to block US Persons and let the rest of the world continue doing business as normal.

      Strange that just as the dollar is going through a bypass operation due to excessive US debt and foreign sovereigns financing that debt, like China, plus the raising price of gold that this direct assault (Stalinist or Neo Con. Take your pick) on free trade means of exchange should take place.

      May be not!

    9. Gravatar Icon 9 David

      I have posted, and I am a US citizen. No, there is nothing wrong for US citizens to use E-Gold. The problem is that there are few people who abuses the payment processors that hurts everybody else. Plus, we have a Justice Department that is way out of control right now on the direction of alberto Gonzalas. There are many cases of their abusive powers.

      They went after Google.

      2.They sent two innocent border patrol agents to prision who did their job trying to stop a violent drug smugglar trying to cross the border from Mexico illegallly with drugs.

      3. The firering of 9 US District attornies.

      4. Now, E-Gold.

      There is so much pressure for Alberto Gonzalas to resign. If us US citizens send letters, emails or call our local representatives? There will be more pressure on Alberto Gonzalas to resign, and a more of a cleanup in the office where they do not break the laws trying to send innocent people into jail.

      I have some information here if anybody would like to contact law makers.

      http://www.gptkingdom.com/blog/

    10. Gravatar Icon 10 TIMBAKTO

      Now almost 1 month is near to come but we have not heared any other press release from e-gold and they are now ripping their users by capturing their funds. I am affriad e-gold is gone permanently if they do not unblock all closed merchant accounts specially 1MDC.

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