By sunrise the next morning, all of the local news channels were running the story and a lot of details on the day to day operation of Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Sales were starting to appear on index pages across the Internet.
Most of the California television and newspapers focused on the fact that James Fayed and his estranged wife were going through a messy divorce. The early reports talked about court documents which had shown around $12 million in assets up for grabs in the divorce.
The Ventura County residents were fighting over their business assets, including $12 million in bank accounts and stores of gold and silver, according to court documents. [1]
Late Friday, August 1, just days after losing Pamela, the news broke that James Fayed was in Federal custody. It is important to note that he has not been charged with a crime relating to Pamela's murder. James Fayed as the operator and signatory on GoldFinger/e-bullion bank accounts had been arrested for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960, which is operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
It appears from the documentation that Fayed's current money transmitting charge stems from e-bullion acting as third party receiver for alleged ponzi funds amounting to something like $20 million.
"during a roughly eight-month period in 2005 and 2006, bank accounts in the name of GCB, over which defendant was a signatory (along with his deceased, estranged wife), received and transferred out over $20,000,000 in proceeds from Ponzi scheme victims. The victims did not intend to use defendant's business to purchase gold or precious metals, as defendant's website represents as the service offered by defendant's company. Neither defendant nor the entities he admittedly controls were licensed to transfer such funds. Accordingly, defendant was charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business." [2]
This charge is identical to the one received by Douglas Jackson of e-gold. (This is one of the charges he "plead guilty to" in the recent e-gold plea agreement.)
A similar New York State Criminal charge was also used to arrest Arthur Budovsky and Vladimir Kats aka "Ragnar Danneskjoldof" of GoldAge.net back in July 2006. Article 13-B of the New York banking law states that it is a felony to transfer money without a license. (charges whether State or Federal are just allegations and all parties are presumed innocent)
After Jim Fayed's arrest, court documents began to surface on the Net such as restraining orders, bail documents, indictments and more. One web site even uncovered that James had gone bankrupt in 1997 and it seemed that all the dirty laundry was now coming out.
Almost all of this information either "by the piece" or looking at the "big picture," paints a grim picture for the future of e-bullion and Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Sales. The e-bullion web site has been reportedly offline for "maintenance" since August 5th. http://www.e-bullion.com However, the Goldfinger Coin and Bullion web site is still live and operating. http://www.goldfingercoin.com
05 August, 2008, 1:00pm PST: The e-Bullion website will be unavailable for a period of approximately four hours while our Tech Dept. performs routine maintenance.
An associated press story tried to make a connection between e-bullion, James Fayed and a federal fraud investigation, but no reliable source could confirm that information.
"The FBI is investigating possible fraud at a gold-trading business co-owned by a woman killed this week in a parking garage, an official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday. The agency is investigating the activities of Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Sales, said the law enforcement official, who was not authorized to comment publicly because the probe was ongoing." *By Thomas Watkins Associated Press Writer
After Jim's arrest, the press had a field day with the information regarding the search of his residence.
"During the search of defendant's residence, officers also found approximately $60,000 in cash wrapped in plastic material; approximately $3,000,000 in gold; and approximately 31 firearms, including one with a long-range night vision scope, along with thousands of rounds of matching ammunition. The cash and gold were seized." [3]
The firearms were legally owned and left at the residence.
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