According to the links below, e-gold has lost in a trial court in the disctrict of Columbia for violation of 18 USC 1960 which makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. So the problem is that e-gold requires a license to operate legally.
I posted before in this post about this case: they got a favorable ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia to be heard. Now we have these bad news.
Now the question is: can they get licensed and operate legally again?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
International Crimes: E-Currency subject to Licensing Requirement
A trial court in the District of Columbia, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37602, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. E-GOLD, LTD, et al., for violation of 18 USC 1960 which makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the trial court, a business can clearly engage in money transmitting without limiting its transactions to cash or currency and would commit a crime if it did so without being licensed. “ The Court rejected the claim that 18 USC 1960 does not apply to their operations because they never deal in cash or currency”.
Last year, the DOJ announced Indictment of E-Gold as follows: “A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has indicted two companies operating a digital currency business and their owners on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today. 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.”
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37602
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. E-GOLD, LTD, et al., Defendants.
Criminal Action No. 07-109 (RMC)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37602
May 8, 2008, Decided
May 8, 2008, Filed
COUNSEL: [*1] For E-GOLD, LTD., Defendant (1): Aron U. Raskas, LEAD ATTORNEY, KRAMON & GRAHAM, P.A., Baltimore, MD; Bernard S. Grimm, LEAD ATTORNEY, COZEN O’CONNOR, Washington, DC; Donald J. Russell, Lawrence Saul Robbins, LEAD ATTORNEYS, ROBBINS RUSSELL ENGLERT ORSECK & UNTEREINER, LLP, Washington, DC; Barry J. Pollack, KELLEY DRYE COLLIER SHANNON, Washington, DC.
For USA, Plaintiff: Kimberly Kiefer Peretti, LEAD ATTORNEY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, DC; Laurel Loomis Rimon, LEAD ATTORNEY, United States Attorney’s Office, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Washington, DC; Jonathan William Haray, U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Washington, DC.
JUDGES: ROSEMARY M. COLLYER, United States District Judge.
OPINION BY: ROSEMARY M. COLLYER
OPINION
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Title 18 of the United States Code (”U.S.C.”) sets out federal law covering Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Title 31 of the U.S.C. sets out federal law covering Money and Finance, including the Internal Revenue Code. 18 U.S.C. § 1960 makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Section 1960 defines what it means to be unlicensed and , what it means to engage in money transmitting. By those definitions, a business can clearly engage in money transmitting without limiting its transactions to cash or currency and would commit a crime if it did so without being licensed. The only definition in the United States Code for a “money transmitting business” per se is at 31 U.S.C. § 5330. Section 5330 defines a money transmitting business as one that, inter alia, is required to report certain cash or currency transactions to the Internal Revenue Service (”IRS”).
Sources:
Obtainingforeignevidence Blog
Nobsinvest
