e-gold busted...

[hoodoo]

Hmmm...

E-gold seems to have been one of these somewhat sketchy internet payment schemes. However, it is interesting that money laundering is the reason for their legal troubles.

Hoo


http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?n.../07/22/1434246

Ian Lamont writes:
"The three owners of Internet currency service e-gold have pled guilty to money laundering in the U.S. District Court for D.C.. The service is based in the West Indies, but the directors apparently live in Florida. They haven't been sentenced yet, but potentially face decades in prison and millions in fines. In addition, the principal director posted a blog entry yesterday saying that 'criminal activity will not be tolerated,' and pledging to eliminate the loopholes that allowed money laundering to thrive on the service. He also claims that e-gold has more transaction volume in a single quarter than all of the first-generation Web currency services like Cybercash, Beenz, and Flooz completed over their lifetimes. Ironically, one of the reasons that contributed to Flooz's demise in 2001 was rampant money laundering."

[metalman]

Re: e-gold busted...

Hmmm...

E-gold seems to have been one of these somewhat sketchy internet payment schemes. However, it is interesting that money laundering is the reason for their legal troubles.

Hoo


http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?n.../07/22/1434246

Ian Lamont writes:
"The three owners of Internet currency service e-gold have pled guilty to money laundering in the U.S. District Court for D.C.. The service is based in the West Indies, but the directors apparently live in Florida. They haven't been sentenced yet, but potentially face decades in prison and millions in fines. In addition, the principal director posted a blog entry yesterday saying that 'criminal activity will not be tolerated,' and pledging to eliminate the loopholes that allowed money laundering to thrive on the service. He also claims that e-gold has more transaction volume in a single quarter than all of the first-generation Web currency services like Cybercash, Beenz, and Flooz completed over their lifetimes. Ironically, one of the reasons that contributed to Flooz's demise in 2001 was rampant money laundering."

great concept... but how to have a truly private and anon international payment system without attracting child pornographers, slave traders, and other nasties? tough problem.

[dbarberic]

Re: e-gold busted...

great concept... but how to have a truly private and anon international payment system without attracting child pornographers, slave traders, and other nasties? tough problem.

Does money cause crime, or do people?
(New twist on "guns don't kill, people do".)

[grapejelly]

Re: e-gold busted...

they are guilty of being Americans. It is very unsafe. UBS announced it will stop dealing with American private citizens. The US government bullies people into submission and they have to plead guilty. No choice. I don't think there was anything necessarily sketchy about eGold.

[Nervous Drake]

Re: e-gold busted...

.

[mfyahya]

Re: e-gold busted...

You could not buy gold or sell it directly from e-gold, but had to go through brokers such as icegold. I think the idea was to offload the risk of money laundering to these brokers, but the governments shutdown the most of the brokers as well as e-gold now.

There are several other gold backed currencies still existing, including ones outside the US such as http://www.e-dinar.com/ . I just found that there's a digital currency magazine and an interview with e-dinar ceo here

I believe the governments are terrified of any competition to their fiat currencies.

[rabot10]

Re: e-gold busted...

I'd like to know the core reason these guys get targeted for money laundering over and over, like what really nails them in this money laundering schematic.

Because to me, the core problem with money laundering is that it becomes un-detectable as soon as you take money out of the electronic grid and make private deals under the table with cash. This cash is then converted to whatever it is that cleans it (e-gold?). Am I woefully ignorant of what is going on? Are there people taking mounds of cash and putting it into e-gold?

I think they were money laundering that was there only problem, other than that they were clean. And yes they were taking mounds (very large mounds) of cash and money laundering.

The real problem is they were not part of the Crew (Fed) thats what got them in trouble if U ask me.