A motion filed by lawyers for James Fayed and e-Bullion to maintain the company's computer systems has been turned down, according to a report in the Ventura County Star.
Lawyers had requested that authorities release $300,000 out of approximately $24 million in assets that had been seized from e-Bullion's offices and Fayed's home by FBI and IRS agents on August 5, after Fayed was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a license. U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez was quoted as saying the motion to release the funds "seems more like it's preserving a business rather than preserving data" that could serve as evidence in the trial.
Background:
- e-Bullion's lawyer blasts new government claims, says seizure of funds "not authorized"
- Feds drop charge against James Fayed, company still under indictment
- e-Bullion co-founder charged with murder
- e-Bullion's lawyer calls government's actions "extreme"
- e-Bullion update: Fayed's lawyers say feds seized $24 million in assets
- Why use e-Bullion? An investor explains
- Court papers indicate James Fayed had absolute control over e-Bullion
- Daughter seeks control of mother's ownership interest in e-Bullion
- Not all e-Bullion customers are worried by outage
- e-Bullion still down for "routine maintenance"
- e-Bullion co-founder jailed on money transfer charge
- Report: Feds investigating e-Bullion in fraud inquiry
- E-Gold directors escape jail time with guilty plea
- Where are they now: Flooz
Comments
Doesn't the judge and the US government understand, that the money doesn't belong to Fayed but to the account holders? How stupid are they. Or does the US Government need money so bad they have to steal it from little people? I am not an US citizen, but if I would live in LA, I would be right there and demand my money back. Why are they holding money from foreigners, isn't there a law? Why don't the newspaper don't write an article about the Government taking money not from the man they indicted, but from regular people, who need their money to live on. Would they seize a bank like that, and the account holders could not access their bank accounts. What kind of monkey business is that. I had my money in a Panama company, which e-bullion is, and how come they seized my money, from a foreign corporation. The US Government playes God of the World again.
The government understands this very well, but it simply couldn't care less. It has been stealing from the little people since this country was formed. Our attorney general, past, has been found to have violated Federal law, and there is no intent to prosecute. Let the little people steal $20 and they will do jail time. Nothing has changed.
And nothing will change, if you let it. Don't you have "We the People" in your declaration? Why doesn't the media get into it? This is a big fraud, and should be investigated. A fraud committed by the US Government. This should be all over the news. And all account holders should demand their money back from the Government thiefs. It almost seems that the murder of Pamela Fayed was committed by the Government, to have a reason to do all this, and make Fayed a skapegoat. And the judge is in on it. Or should I say the judges, because I have counted now four different ones making decisions in this case. People of America do something.
This is the link to the full story from The Ventura Couny Star. http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/30/fayed-loses-first-roun... The next Hearing is on 9/08/08, In a sweeping motion, the Attorney for James Fayed has Petitioned the Court for his release. Here is the link to DGC Magazine; http://www.dgcmagazine.com/blog/?p=253 you can also download the Court Document from here.
Hi Lee,
I read that, and I think we should get big News papers and the TV interested in this government fraud, stealing money from small people. There is a huge group of people who would get involved as well. Its not Fayed ho took our money, its the government and they shoud give us the money back with interest.
Fayed even helped the government with his state of the art system.
Quote
The system helped identify a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who applied for an account, which led the Fayeds to forward the information to Department of Homeland Security and brief officials with the National Security Agency in Camarillo, according to the defendants' status conference report.
Unquote
and this is how they thanked him.
By shutting him down and stealing our money.
Micinka, I changed mind about posting again. Unfortunately "We the People" cannot do anything either. Most of our Government doesn't represent us, especially since at this time the Democrats have control of our Congress, Senate and our Mainstream Media. The FBI/IRS is run like the Mafia and their Judges are on the Federal Payroll. It's all about the Money and especially the Gold which is worth more than Cash.
Lee, something needs to be done. Can somebody find out Schwarzeneggers email, I write german to him, anything. But shouldn't the media pick this up. Why don't they. This is no small matter.
Gee, what happen to America, the land of opportunities, freedom and capitalism? Is everybody going nuts over there.
I'll try to get his email for you.
Hi everybody,
as all account holders we can not access our money, we are not US based, we do not do business in the US and we have our e-bullion (panama company) account seized by the US government, how can this be??? What can we do to get our money?? where can we go to deffend our rights???, this hole history is amazing and I am sure that all account holders are the ones that are most suffering from this, we for example deposited money into our account in order to make some money due to the dollar downfall and the gold price increase, and now that we need this money for our business we are not able to access to it causing financial problems in our company...
Micinka , this is the best that I could do. Good luck.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
E-mail, you can only contact him through this link.
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Thanks Lee, I am going to try.
On a more serious note, do I have any hope of recovering my $3650 from e-bullion. Funny enough all the money is not my, I have a partner in which I introduce to e-bullion e-gold exchange and FOREX exchange, and we are making good money until this problem occur which almost take away my integrity and pride. Now I am afraid to participate in any online financial activity which I have once being an advocate for. Did I have hope
I hope that this problem is solicione, in any case we must write the intervention of the chancery to protect our money.
I'm from Peru and it is not possible that gripped our money easily.
Greetings.
First, thank you Ian Lamont for providing this forum so clients of e-bullion can help each other. I count twenty interested souls, who are:
Micinka, Wandering, Lee, Letorm, Balo, Ronne Chirinos, David Kuan, Bradley Baker, Paul Huebl, Mark Herpel, Peter, Marina Sokolov, John, EJ, Sue, Kelly Herndon, Melissa, Ian Lamont of course and me - Greysi. Now I thank all you because my total savings is with E-bullion and when problem happened I lost hope and only feel sad. But now I read your good thoughts and my mind is made strong and thoughts grow positive.
I like very much the idea to write Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. We know him for many successes but not personal. Why not give Mr. Arnold opportunity to help? Also if we write as group to him then he will think more serious about our problem. Please read now the letter I think to send Mr. Arnold.
--------------------
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
I am young woman of Honduras. In December 2002 I deposit all my money with E-bullion in Camarillo, California. The amount was less than $4000 but is very important for me. The Lempira is money of Honduras but is very bad to save because it has much inflation. With help of friend I find E-bullion and I buy gold of California. A bad thing now is "FBI" and "IRS" punish E-bullion and take everything. I read of this and feel sick if money for future of my son is lost. I am no body, so only you can judge what is right for E-bullion and owner (James Fayed). But is it just to keep money of innocent people with account for saving?? I ask of you no favors. Only offer opportunity to use your leadership for whatever you believe is right. I know support forum on Internet. Many are worried, so I will be happy to share any positive response you can give. Here are details. Case# CR 08-224 in the United States District Court/Central District of California, Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez is Judge.
Thank you.
Greysi Alvarez
--------------------
Thoughts:
I believe good ideas with positive hope is more help than lawyer, so I trust more the judgement of all you.
How can we find more members of E-bullion?
Does anyone want to be part of my letter?
Or is it better to send separate letters each?
I think Judge will be more just *IF* case is famous.
How can we increase visibility-awareness of this.
We need to find a link/site where we can put pressure on the government by complaining and demanding that our money be returned to the account holders. If anyone knows about a site where we can do this, please post it here so that we can make it worldwide.
Update on Fayeds bail hearing this week from the Ventura County Star.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez refused to decide on James Fayed's request for bail, saying he lacked the jurisdiction to do so because the matter was on appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Here is the link to the full story. http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/sep/06/fayed-bail-referred-to... We all know that Judge Philip Gutiereez is the Judge that is going to hear the case starting 9/30/2008 and yet he says it is out of his Jurisdiction. Well, He does have Jurisdiction. He is playing a game to keep Fayed from being released on bail. An Appeals Court can take months to years to hear a case and that's only if they agree to hear and rule on it. Just because it is filed with the Appeals Court doesn't guarantee that it will ever get heard. The Judges reason to not decide is ''because the matter was on appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.'' If that is true all Fayeds Attorney would need to do is withdraw the request from the Appeals Court and refer the Motion for Bail back to Judge Philip Gutiereez. If they had any solid evidence to charge him with the murder of his Wife they would have charged him by now. They cannot hold him forever without the Murder Charge.
Greysi Alvarez, I agree it's worth a try. My opinion is it would be better to send separate letters to the Governor through Fax and the Mail. As many as possible to get his attention.
Just read the article in the ventura county star. I have to say, this is getting more and more ridicules. Last week the same judge decides that no funds will be released to maintain the website and today he could not make a decision to release Fayed from jail, because it was out of his jurisdiction. Man, this is really unbelievable BS. The government is totaly manipulating this, and it is so obvious, I could puke. And the worst, still no comment from the Governments site.
I sent my letter to Mr. Arnold and will report results here.
"complaining and demanding" may be best. But E-bullion clients of foreign country may need to rely more on simple request for justice and winning more support of the people. I do agree more awareness is very good for us. I can find enough news about this on Internet (although much is repeat), but no cite is better than the forum here. If Governor Schwarzenegger is man of valor then he will put the pressure for us. If enough of us appeal to him he will listen and make time to consider this problem fairly.
Hi,
I deposited $70,000.00 which was supposed to go to my other branch of business and am still waiting for the transfer to go through.
My business can not withstand such an enourmous loss, and I am falling under severe pressure from my creditors that want to close me down totally. I don't have any clue how to go about getting back this money that was loaned against my factory machines. Once the creditors take the machines for their loan, my business will close down automatically.
Is there anyone out there that can guide me in the right direction as to how to go about this problem?
what if the man has been bail what will happen to we the account holder.
Tbay, nothing will happen until the trial beginning 9/30/2008 reaches a verdict of not guilty or guilty. Then we have to wait until the Judge makes a Court Order to release the funds to the account holders. There is no way of knowing at this time how long this could take. If he is charged with the Murder of Pamela Fayed his Wife it could be months or years. Trials in this country move very slow. Lets hope and pray that he had nothing to do with the Murder.
Greysi,
I couldn't agree with you more that "complaining and demanding" may be the best approach, and sending letters to the governor is harmless. I wouldn't, however, be sure if the governor whom you stated is "the man of valor" would be the right person to persuade these government agencies to return your fund. I'm saying this because as unpopular as he is right now, he is being seriously considered to be recalled by the disgruntled by California's prison guard union (http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN0845881120080908). There is no doubt in my mind that he may be sympathetic to your situation including others, but you will need to be concerned about other authorities in these agencies he may be dealing with. That's my assessment, but I could be mistaken.
I don't know if anyone is interested or if it will even help, but here is Judge Gutierrez' Mailing address and Phone# Judge Philip S. Gutierrez
U.S. District Court - Central District California
Courtroom 790, Roybal Federal building
255 E. Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA. 90012
(213) 894-1565
I thought maybe some would like mail letters to him or call. It wouldn't hurt.
All the way to the top if you want. President.George W. Bush The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
email to:comments@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
Hi EJ, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't that unpopular, he is only unpopular for making the necessary State budget cuts. The state of California has been virtually bankrupt for many years leading him to make unpopular cuts in which somebody is going to be hurt and upset. Gov. Schwarzenegger is a good Man doing the best he can with the State budget mess that he inherited. The Union is just making the threats to get their story into the media, the media loves to report bad news. Most of the good he is doing you'll never hear about. The disgruntled Prison Guard Union alone cannot have him recalled just because they disagree with what he has to do, it takes more than that. The people out on the left coast would have a different Governor every six months if they could. They have to blame somebody for their States ongoing problems then take it out on them. No one will ever satisfy them. No offense intended.
Hi Lee,
You are right in saying that the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is not that unpopular, but we know he is at least unpopular, so I believe the level of his unpopularity will rise just as it did to the previous governor Gray Davis. Don’t get me wrong here---I love Arnold Schwarzenegger and if there was an amendment in the Constitution allowing a foreign-born American to become the president of the U.S., he’d certainly have my vote. He has been making some sound decisions that are unfortunately unpopular to others such as cutting off other budgets in addition to the one I mentioned in my previous posting which I do not blame him. We just need to conscientiously remember how certain Californians are especially with the economic downturn as I or anyone would definitely get recalled if budget cuts are made or tax increased.
I know the governor is not the subject of this discussion, but my question is: will he be in a position to pursue these agencies or even the judge to consider unfreezing e-bullion customers’ accounts?
I agree...I also lost almost $4000 in this mess. $3000 of it was in the process of a withdrawal. I am a retired house wife trying to make some money. It took a long time to make that much and now I may not even see it. I have taken down all the contact information here and I will be sending letters to all of them. I will even contact my own state government. Maybe someone will be able to do something we can't do ourselves. It's worth a shot.
I also believe that separate letters will work better. If they are flooded with letters from everywhere, maybe they will get the message (assuming they care). They should at least release our money to us. We had nothing to do with any of the illegal dealings and shouldn't be held responsable for them.
Marie
HI EJ, we are mostly in agreement. But, I believe a Governor in a Bankrupt State cannot be recalled for budget cuts. There is only about four things he can do. 1. Budget Cuts. 2. Raise Taxes. 3. Shut down all State Funded Agencies. 4. Do nothing as Gray Davis did, which didn't work out for him. California will not get anywhere recalling Governor after Governor and spending millions upon millions the State would have to borrow to do the recalls. They need to admit they are BANKRUPT and stop wasting money that they don't have. Anyway, this is irrelevant to the purpose of our discussion.
Marie, we are in total agreement. I think we should send letters to anyone that we might think of who may have some power to help us. It couldn't hurt, and it would give us something good to do while we are waiting for the outcome. Will they be in a position to pursue these Agencies or even the Judge to consider unfreezing E-bullion Customers Accounts? We don't know, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. Who knows they might be able to help.
Joe, we are in the same position you are, we had a large amount in e-bullion just to make some money as the gold price was going up, now that we need this cash to continue with our operations, we do not have access to it and we as you have the creditors on our back, this week we are going to talk to an attorney here in Panama to talk about this situation because being e-bullion a panama company, he might clarify us what to do or not to do, i will keep you guys posted.
hi everybody,
I wrote everywhere, but have not gotten an answer from anybody. It is a lousy situation, but I guess we have to wait for the trial. There will be a lot of mess, because our accounts were with e-bullion, which is a Panama company, and e-bullion basically was also a customer of goldfingercoin. Thats the one in trouble. E-bullion used the services of Goldfingercoin, to buy and sell metalls. It will be a heck of a job to explain that to a judge who has no clue. I hope they succed, because this discriminitation really is the worst.
Readers: I have a question for everyone:
What were you using e-Bullion for?
A gold-indexed savings account?
To transfer money to overseas suppliers and customers?
High-yield investment program (HYIP)?
Something else?
I have heard from people who were using it to invest in gold or transfer money to suppliers, but I am particularly interested in hearing from those who participated in HYIPs or similar online investing programs, or purposes that are not listed above.
Many thanks,
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
Hi Ian,
I was investing in hypes. My husband is retired and I was always a stay at home mom with 5 kids and then taking care of grandchildren. I also take care of my retarded brother who is 10 years older than me. I am unable to go out to work so I started investing in hypes to help out with bills, etc. It took a long time for me to get the money and I used e-bullion to invest and withdraw. Now it looks like it is gone.
Marie
Hi Ian
Thanks for taking time on this. I placed monies with them to take advantage of the rising value of gold, and the ease of redeeming it for cash, along with some other investments which required it! I was in the process of liquidating it when ?????
Chuck
Readers: There's news in in the Pamela Fayed investigation:
e-Bullion update: Arrest in Fayed murder investigation
Also, I believe there is some sort of hearing today on the federal charge relating to e-Bullion, but am not sure. The federal trial officially opens on Sept. 30.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
Fayed and employee to be charged with murder! Jose Luis Moya, 47, will be arraigned this afternoon in Los Angeles County Superior Court on the charges. James Fayed, 45 who is currently being held without bail in a separate federal case, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday 9/16/2008.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/sep/15/fayed-and-employee-be-...
Breaking news:
e-Bullion co-founder charged with murder
I was notified of the news by Paul Huebl; additional details came from the Ventura County Star.
However, there's no word on what will happen with e-Bullion's seized assets, and it may be a long time before anyone finds out -- both trials have yet to begin.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
To answer Ian, I was using E-bullion simply for savings because Honduran Lempira has much inflation.
Thanks to Micinka (and anyone who write) because your efforts help us all. I also received no answer to my letter.
The information on Judge Philip S. Gutierrez from Lee is maybe best idea, because if he choose to do right then no one is more important.
Will also be good to know what Letor finds out.
Dear people,
the one charge of transmitting money without a license has nothing to do with the murder charge. Each is a separate case. Lets wait what the trial which starts on the 30th of September brings. Just in case he wins that, the Government has to give back all seized property. And if Fayed cannot run it, there is still the daughter, which could, with the help of the attorneys, who could appoint somebody.
Readers: The federal charge against Fayed has been dropped, but not against e-Bullion:
Feds drop charge against James Fayed, e-Bullion still under indictment
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
The last two days updates says that the original charges of of transmitting money without a license were dropped without prejudice. Very interesting, I wonder if they will find a reason to hold onto the money and assets? HEADLINE
Fayed faces murder, conspiracy charges He and employee planned stabbing of estranged wife, complaint alleges.
On Monday, federal prosecutors dropped that charge without prejudice, which means they can refile it, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/sep/16/fayed-faces-murder-con...
HEADLINE Fayed attorney says evidence is circumstantial
Murder case arraignment is postponed until Oct. 8
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/sep/17/fayed-attorney-says-sl...
Fayed was already in custody and facing one count of operating an online money transmitting business without a license in federal court when he was arrested Monday.
Federal prosecutors dropped the charge against him but have the option to refile the case.
If the charges are dropped, they should return all the seized property as well. The Feds trully play a nasty game. There is a daughter, there are attorneys, Fayed can appoint someone to run the business.
thanks micinka for your information, you really make me feel there is hope for my money and i am in jamaica.
We're so screwed. I've kissed my gold good-bye.
As for the behavior of the Federal authorities, I would surmise that this is a typical mode of operation: they will tie someone up with questionable charges, seizing everything in sight while they pursue an investigation into the "real" charges which are the ones they really want to make stick.. In this case it sounds like the illegal activities by some account holders gave the authorities an excuse to seize assets for the questionable "illegal transaction" investigation. Depriving the "perp" of any and all resources is just one tactic they use to improve their odds.
Whether they did this in co-operation with the local police murder investigation or they have more solid charges to be brought later is a good question. It's hard to imagine the FBI doing favors for the local police, but these are strange times. And it is interesting how the Feds seem to backing off just in time for the local law to bring forward the murder indictment.
Readers: There is a new update:
e-Bullion's lawyer blasts new government claims, says seizure of funds "not authorized"
You are welcome to comment below the new article. Please note that I cannot give any advice on how e-Bullion depositors can recover their funds.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
Industry Standard
Readers: There are two major developments in the e-Bullion story, located at the following locations:
Copies of the relevant court documents are linked from the articles. I am closing the comment thread here, but you are welcome to continue the discussion in the comment threads for the two new articles.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard