"The interrogation became less about me and more about > politics and e-gold," Bradley said. "They were trying to get > me to blame e-gold for fraud. Just to be blunt, these guys > have no clue about how e-commerce works, how e-gold > works or what I was doing." > > E-gold is a 5-year-old firm based on the Caribbean island of > Nevis that provides an electronic currency backed by > physical metal stored in vaults in London and Dubai. The > company says it has 181,000 user accounts and stores > about 1.4 metric tons of gold on behalf of its customers. > This is interesting. Nevis, offshore, Dubai, etc...really smart. This guy obviously is giving the hounds a good chase. And all those drugs and gold of off shore money laundering accounts. Well, the Feds are scared. > Secret Service Raids Gold-Age > http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=383 > > Sat Mar 31 00:02:13 2001 > > Secret Service Raids Gold-Age > by Declan McCullagh > > WASHINGTON -- The Secret Service has raided a New York state business > that exchanged dollars for grams of the digital currency called e-gold. > > A bevy of agents from the Secret Service, Postal Service and local > police > recently detained the owners of Gold-Age, based in Syracuse, and seized > computers, files and documents from the fledgling firm. > > U.S. Attorney Daniel French said Friday that the > investigation involved charges of credit card fraud. "We > haven't brought charges yet," French said. "We're in the > investigative phase." > > Gold-Age owner Parker Bradley says that during his > eight-hour interrogation on March 12, the Secret Service > seemed less interested in credit card fraud and more > interested in the mechanics of e-gold. Until last year, > Bradley accepted credit cards and paid out e-gold, but said > he quit because too many people used stolen credit cards > when conducting business with him. > > "The interrogation became less about me and more about > politics and e-gold," Bradley said. "They were trying to get > me to blame e-gold for fraud. Just to be blunt, these guys > have no clue about how e-commerce works, how e-gold > works or what I was doing." > > E-gold is a 5-year-old firm based on the Caribbean island of > Nevis that provides an electronic currency backed by > physical metal stored in vaults in London and Dubai. The > company says it has 181,000 user accounts and stores > about 1.4 metric tons of gold on behalf of its customers. > > Bradley's Gold-Age company, which he ran with his wife out > of their home until the raid, was one of about a dozen e-gold > currency exchange services: He took dollars and credited > grams of gold, silver, platinum and palladium to a customer's > account, less a modest fee. > > "I have no political statements to make," Bradley said. "I'm > just running a business. People can use e-gold for whatever > they desire." > > Jim Ray, vice president at Omnipay -- the largest e-gold > exchanger -- says he was aghast at a Secret Service raid > directed at one of his competitors and customers. > > "I think the case is an outrage," Ray said. "I think this is a > symptom of too many donuts on the cops' part.... To me, > this is a very serious business. They've just taken out one of > my best market makers for no reason." > > Still unclear is why the raid took place. French indicated that > it could be more than a routine credit card investigation, > saying "at this point, it's being investigated as a credit card > fraud." > > One possibility is a broader investigation directed at some > users of e-gold, which is less anonymous than cash but more > anonymous than credit cards. Former Treasury Secretary > Lawrence Summers has warned of malcontents using the Net > and encryption to dodge taxes, and it's possible that the > feds don't exactly approve of a system that's more > privacy-protective than the heavily regulated banking > system. > > Current federal regulations require banks and credit unions -- > about 19,000 in all -- to inform federal law enforcement of > all transactions $5,000 and above that have no "apparent > lawful purpose or are not the sort in which the particular > customer would normally be expected to engage." > > Because e-gold is not a bank that lends money -- it's more > akin to a warehouse that stores gold on behalf of its > customers -- it's not covered by those rules. > > Mike Godwin said the raid evokes memories of the notorious > Steve Jackson Games raid by the Secret Service a decade > ago, which led to the formation of the Electronic Frontier > Foundation. > > "Why did they take the hardware?" Godwin asks. "If what > they wanted was business records, why did they take the > equipment in such a way that shuts down the business?" > > "These people are presumptively innocent," said Godwin, an > attorney who writes frequently about law and technology. > "Even if they are subjects of a federal investigation, the > Secret Service should know better than to swoop in and > engage in disruptive searches of people they're not ready to > arrest." > > Justice Department guidelines give a great deal of latitude to > law enforcement officers who wish to seize computers. > "Agents may obtain search warrants to seize computer > hardware if the hardware is contraband, evidence or an > instrumentality or fruit of crime," the guidelines say. > > Bradley, who was raided, says that he's retained a lawyer > and is asking that his computer equipment be returned. He > said that in addition to the Secret Service seizing his > business records, the raid seemed personal: They snatched > his passport, birth certificate and personal checkbook. > > "When it was obvious I had done nothing worng, they tried > to get me and my wife -- interrogating us seperately -- to > implicate e-gold," Bradley said. "They said, 'Might (e-gold) be > doing this, could they be doing this?'" > > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42745,00.html > > ============================= > Announcements / Notices > > (03/27/2001) > > On 03/12/2001, the Gold-Age office (our home) was wrongly raided by the > Syracuse branch of the U.S. Secret Service (SS, excuse the abbreviation!). > All of our computer equipment, business records, software, and many > non-business items were stolen by the SS in this raid; even though we have > not been charged with any crime (because we have committed no crime), and > they refuse to give us more information. We were also taken and > interrogated for about 8 hours, over the course of the interrogation, > the whole thing seemed to become less about Gold-Age, and more about > e-gold & politics -- they wanted us to lie about e-gold. > > Additionally, our lawyer has been getting nowhere fast when dealing with > the Secret Service agents in question... we suspect that they have > realized their grave error in this wrongful undertaking. > > Gold-Age is actively seeking the return of our property and records, > and plans on aggressive pursuit of other legal remedies and compensation > for this violation of our civil/constitutional rights as U.S. Citizens. > > As a result of this SS-fiasco, Gold-Age's services are effectively on > hold for the foreseeable future. We apologize for any inconvenience this > may cause our loyal customers and any interested "Newbies". For those > that wish to use the EZCmoney payment system to purchase e-gold, > we recommend GoldToday > http://www.gold-today.com/ > > Thank you for your understanding, and to all those who have written or > called > to offer support -- THANK YOU! The encouragement is greatly appreciated. > > https://www.gold-age.net/Gold-Age.htm > > =================================== > > The U.S. Monetary System is a Ponzi Debt Scheme > http://www.4bypass.com/money_facts.htm > > SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE > http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm > > United States The Secret Service > http://www.apfn.org/apfn/sss.htm > > Secret Service AFAUSSS Directory > http://www.apfn.org/USSS/usss.pdf > > "THE PROBLEM" > Part 1: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/silent1.pdf > Part 2: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/silent2.pdf > > "THE SOLUTION" > http://www.apfn.org/apfn/solutions.htm > > Anne Williamson exposes Federal Reserve > How your money -- and life -- are controlled by America's banking system > http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21872 > > "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better > than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask > not your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands of those > who feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget > that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams > http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Make good on the promise you made at graduation to keep in touch. Classmates.com has over 14 million registered high school alumni--chances are you'll find your friends! </FONT><A HREF="http://us.click.yahoo.com/03IJGA/DMUCAA/4ihDAA/xrOVlB/TM"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please let us stay on topic and be civil. To unsubscribe please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs -Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org OM Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
