Today is the big day, iGolder is officially open for business. All this month we will be putting their software to the test, trying out features in real time, buying, selling and reporting on our success or failure.

Using an odd combination of Skype IM, email and posting text questions to various domains and waiting for the answers….I have finally completed my interview with the hardest working man on the Internet, system creator Mr. Daniel Morin.

You can read the full interview in this month’s DGCmagazine (April) which will be out early next week. In the mean time, here is a quick half dozen questions for a preview.

Q. I have Daniel Morin on Skype live with me.  Daniel can you tell us your position with the company?

A. I am the co-founder and president of iGolder. I work with my brother who is also a professional software developer.

Q: What kind of background and work experience do you bring with you to iGolder?

A: My brother and I are professional software developers with extensive experience in eCommerce.  iGolder is the outcome of our overall dissatisfaction with the payment industry.  Somehow, I was naïvely hoping for the payment industry to improve over time, however my hopes have been in vain.  After years of waiting for obvious online security features, we decided to jump into a new adventure – creating the world’s finest payment system.  iGolder is not another run-of-the-mill; we have numerous innovative features to make online transactions safe and easy.

Q: Great so you are NOT one of the ‘old school’ digital gold guys?

A: We are new to the digital gold industry.  I have always been fascinated with economics.  My thirst for a better understanding of economics lead me to discover the writings of Mises and Rothbard in 2000.  For the first time, I learned the proper definition of free trade and the nature of money.  I started educating myself by reading www.mises.org and purchased books related to the Austrian School of Economics.  Unlike the economic theories I learned at University, the Austrian School of Economics was making sense to me.  Soon, I became a hardcore defender of the free market and, for lack of a better word, a “gold bug”.

I believe gold remains money, no matter how hard governments try to “demonitize” it, using anti-gold propaganda and/or making gold ownership illegal.  Every fiat currency (paper money) is doomed to collapse and will eventually return to its intrinsic value: zero.  Any industrialized society requires a reliable medium of exchange for trade – why not gold?

Using iGolder, people get the best of both worlds: they may transfer ownership of electronic gold without having to physically handle or ship the yellow metal, or they may exchange their electronic gold into physical gold bullion or coins.

Q: How long have you been creating the software and testing the program before opening today?

A: We started iGolder in January 2008, and we have been working full time since then.  Because iGolder has numerous features, we have been testing iGolder for several months, making sure there are no security leaks.

Q: Are you prepared and do you have strong defenses in place to defend against those pesky Liberty Reserve hackers?

A: We designed iGolder with security in mind.  For instance, a distinctive feature is our First Transaction Protection Delay which shields your account from an unauthorized transaction.  Depending on the amount transferred, the recipient has to wait from 24 hours to 72 hours for the transfer to clear.  You also receive an email notification each time a transfer is done on your account, and you always have the option to stop the payment if you deem unauthorized.  To further enhance our security, we developed the iGolder Bot, capable to analyze activity patterns.  For instance, a large transfer initiated from a new IP address to a new account raises suspicion, and may trigger an email confirmation message.  Having a protection delay gives us time to notice suspicious activities, such as repeated failed logins prior a large transfer, and freeze the account for further investigation.  Also, we do not allow Anonymous Members to trade with each other, and our Identified Members are limited to a maximum of 100 grams of gold per month.  Only our Verified Members have no transaction limit, yet still subject to the First Transaction Protection Delay.  There would have been no such fraud if Liberty Reserve had those security features in place.  For more details, visit https://www.iGolder.com/faq/#Why-iGolder-Be-Successful

Q: What features of iGolder that you created, are you especially proud of and you feel will be well received by users?

A: I believe the prominent feature will be our Safetransit tool protecting both the buyer and seller.  I suppose our members will also enjoy our lowering adaptive fees – the longer you are a member and the more transactions you make, the lower are your fees.  As a Verified Member, your transfer fees range from 3.0% to 0.1% (assuming no demerit point).

Our feedback reputation system gives our members an opportunity to build a genuine reputation on the Internet.  A member may disclose on his public profile the feedback comments received from his trading partners, thus increasing his trustworthiness to potential (and existing) customers.  iGolder also provides a mechanism to fairly resolve disputes and resume business operations.  Our competitors simply do not care about disputes, or they hire the cheapest labor for customer service and dispute resolutions.  Since filing a dispute is free, there is no incentive for our competitors to hire professional experts to resolve disputes.  As a result, you get your money’s worth – a lousy service with a brainless unfair ruling.  At iGolder, we want all disputes to be resolved fairly.  By having a dispute fee, we greatly reduce frivolous claims while dispensing the dispute fee to hire an impartial expert to resolve the dispute.  The parties may also elect their arbitrator to resolve their disputes; the arbitrator may be specified in a clause of the contract, or at the very moment a dispute arise.  If a dispute arise and both parties are unable to agree on an arbitrator, then iGolder will resolve the dispute if the case is small, or appoint an arbitration specialist to resolve a larger dispute.

With iGolder, you may issue as many refunds as you wish.  We also refund the transaction fee at pro rata.  If a transaction is in dispute, you may submit proposals to your trade partner, such as suggesting a different amount or changing the Safetransit time.  There is no limit on the number of proposals you may send, and when both parties agree on a new proposal, the transaction automatically resumes in Safetransit.

To facilitate purchasing and selling gold, iGolder offers a directory of independent exchangers.  You select the currency and payment method you wish to purchase gold, and iGolder displays you a list of exchangers, sorted by lowest fees and highest reputation.  In the near future, we will add a directory for gold redemption, that is to exchange electronic gold to physical gold bullion, plus another directory for purchasing ATM debit cards from independent card providers.  Later, we will provide a mechanism for our members to list themselves into our business directory, by category and by searchable keywords.

Finally, every account may include an unlimited number of sub-accounts.

April 1st look for DGCmagazine.com and read the full interview.

http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/articles/13629_libertyreserve_is_down_for_maintenance_users_are_in_panic_whats_going_on

http://libertyreserve-recovery.blogspot.com/2009/03/small-update_06.html

Panama attorneys Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia advised a company in securing a license granted by the Panamanian government to operate a remittance agent.

Panama City, Panama, November 12, 2008 –(PR.com)– Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia (www.laglex.com) attorneys advised a U.S.-owned subsidiary, in the process of obtaining a remittance agent license from the Directorate of Financial Enterprises of the Panama Ministry of Commerce and Industries (www.mici.gob.pa).

Although Panama hosts a financial center which has no limits on the repatriation of funds and use of foreign currencies, its government has enacted Law 48 of 2003 which requires that non-bank companies receiving funds on a regular basis for their remittance abroad through systems for transfer or transmission of funds, settlement of funds or any other means, obtain a special license from the Directorate. This ensures that operators receiving funds for electronic transactions systems have information on their ownership, financial solvency and anti-money laundering measures subject to regular review and supervision by a government authority. The Directorate also provides special licenses for lending companies.

The participation of the law firm consisted in the filing, preparation and coordination of the process for obtaining the license to operate a remittance agent. The clients of the law firm are dedicated to offering innovative solutions, payment methods and transactional processing environments for financial entities, banking, government, merchants and consumers. The license holder also markets a variety of solutions oriented to the transactional processing and electronic payment methods environments applied to several technological platforms and markets, for local as well as regional use.

According to statistics of the Directorate of Financial Enterprises, Panama received US$81.4 million in remittances (largely US$46.8 million from the US) during the first half of 2007. US$66.3 million are sent to other countries (mostly US$26.3 million to Colombia by migrants of said country). Already a dozen companies are authorized by the DEF to provide remittance services.

About Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia
Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia was created as an alternative for clients worldwide who seek fast, innovative and effective solutions to their legal problems. The firm currently provides services to individual and corporate clients in Panama as well in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its partners maintain a commitment with professional ethics and social responsibility by participating in the board of directors of groups such as the Panama Bar Association, the German and the American Chambers of Commerce (AMCHAM) of Panama, and the Association of Chinese-Panamanian Professionals (APROCHIPA).

The firm centers its law practice in private client services and asset protection (Private Interest Foundations, Trusts), business structures (Offshore Corporations), tax planning, real estate and e-commerce. It also advices in areas of Law such as Corporate, Commercial, Intellectual Property, Maritime, Tax, and Immigration Law as well as related litigation that may arise.

For more information, contact +507 340-6444, e-mail aaguilar (at) nysbar.com, or see: Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia http://www.laglex.com/

Panama Licensed Financial Service companies have become a very popular vehicle for international financial services businesses in recent years, due to the relative speed and ease with which one may obtain a licence. A provisional license may be obtained by our law firm within as little as one business day. The full Class “A” Financial Services license will be issued within two weeks, and supplied along with a certified English translation with apostille.

Basic Legal Structure

The basis of this construction is a generally an anonymous Sociedad Anonima Bearer Share Panama Corporation, though you could also use a Panama SRL if preferred. This entity will then be additionally licensed by the Panamanian authorities as a Class A Financial Services Corporation. The license is in the name of the Corporation. Your name does not appear on the license or in any public registry relating to the corporation, so privacy is preserved. The Corporation Nominee Directors who are Panamanians will take out the license. The license is an official license with colored seals, stamps and apostille and is suitable for public display on your website or in a frame on your office wall.

What does the Class A Financial Services License specifically allow?

This license allows the corporation to engage in certain financial activities in Panama.

General Financial Consulting – Independent Financial Advisor, Financial Planner etc.

Debit, Credit or Prepaid Card Program Administration – This is useful for bank card programs where funds are received from or on behalf of individual cardholders and held in a central master account.

Currency Exchange Merchant - The licensed corporation can operate a virtual gold or currency exchange merchant where you are accepting payments of any form for purchase and sale of digital currencies.

E-Wallet – The Corporation may be used for operation of an e-wallet or electronic cash system where funds are received for further credit into an individuals e-wallet account, or for person to person and consumer to business payments via an online interface. (This is the business model of Paypal, for example)

Factoring – You may operate a factoring business to buy and sell receivables and liabilities of other companies.

Leasing – You may arrange leasing of capital equipment, vehicles, intellectual property etc, including sale and leaseback arrangements with other companies.

Money Exchange and Precious Metals - The licensed company may open a physical Casa de Cambio (trading of Foreign Currency) operation in Panama. For example you may convert Euros into US Dollars for tourists, or buy and sell gold coins for cash or bank wires. You may also arrange cash advances on credit cards, and offer check cashing services. Such activity however is subject to further AML regulation: you must file monthly returns with client data for all transactions over $10,000 to the Financial Analysis Unit in Panama. In addition of course the corporation may also engage in any other lawful activity that corporations can normally engage in without a license.

Local Gold

The uncertainty surrounding the fate of the dollar has led to a flood of questions recently about where you can physically buy gold in Panama. Many experts are now no longer recommending investment in gold certificates through ETFs and the like, with bank and underwriter collapses making electronic gold risky. And that’s not even mentioning the criminal lawsuits in the USA against e-gold, and the burgeoning but risky “electronic money” business here in Panama.

So let’s say you have a small amount of cash and you want to buy gold. In Panama City you can buy gold coins in a number of cambios (in Spanish: casas de cambio). One, for example, is PanaCambios on Via España in the financial heart of Panama City. They are located next to Plaza Concordia, behind the big Adams clothing store. They are conveniently situated just a short walk from business hotels like the Riande Continental, El Panama, the Marriott and The Executive Hotel.

You’ll find, however, that the spreads (difference between buying and selling prices) are quite high. You can usually negotiate a better price for larger quantities, but remember if you enter or leave the country with more than $10,000 you are obliged to fill out a customs declaration. This applies equally to gold coins.

What gold coins can you actually buy? Typically Maple Leafs, Gold Eagles, Krugerrands or Mexican Centenarios. Through the 1970s and 1980s however, Panama produced its own Gold Balboa coins in denominations of $500 and $100.  These are also sometimes available, as are Silver Balboas, now a collectors’ item.

Source: http://www.dobusinessinpanama.com

Digital Gold Bullion Products

Ponzi crowd makes the switch as Liberty Reserve overtakes e-gold in traffic.

Changing of the Guard

Special thanks to Paul at CrimeFileNews for posting this information. We are all lucky Paul is posting this information or it would not be quickly available to our corner of the world.

Let’s clear up some more false rumors before we get into the court document details.

1. Contrary to earlier allegations, Mr. Fayed did not personally rent the vehicle; the vehicle was rented by the business on a month-to-month basis through a corporate credit account.

2. The government also alleged that Mrs. Fayed sought to cooperate with the government on or about June 24, 2008. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II, however, struck that statement from the prosecutor’s pleadings as unfounded.

3. The government has also referred to over $20 Million in Ponzi scheme proceeds going through defendant’s accounts, however, there is no evidence that Goldfinger or Mr. Fayed were engaged in a so-called Ponzi scheme.

4. The large amount of gold and silver bullion reserves and bank accounts seized by federal law enforcement demonstrates that e-Bullion.com has sufficient reserves to cover its depositors.

The big question everyone was asking over the past few weeks was….What did the government seize?  Now we know.

EVERYTHING THEY COULD FIND for a total of $24 million.

The FBI and IRS seized bank accounts, business records, property, and precious metals holdings from Goldfinger’s vaults, including gold and silver bullion worth approximately $24 Million that is held for the benefit of thousands of e-Bullion.com depositors.”

Since e-bullion began the company has had just over 466,000 customer accounts.  That is total accounts, funded or not, since day one and you may compare that amount to e-gold’s over 5 million accounts, Webmoney with over 5 million, and finally GoldMoney comes in at over 40,000.

At the time of the original indictment in February of 2008, the prosecutor Mark Aveis made a dire prediction in court papers which has come true today.  In sworn documents, he predicted what would happen to e-bullion’s online business if that sealed indictment ever became public as it just has,

02/08 “Similarly, disclosure of this indictment would most certainly cause disruption, if not a complete shut-down, of the relevant Internet sites and would, accordingly, likely destroy any possibility of a proactive, ongoing investigation of very important targets.”

New court documents show his prediction has come to pass,

08/08 “…the FBI and IRS executed search warrants and seizure warrants that caused a complete shut-down of Goldfinger and e-Bullion.com, and all relevant Internet sites.”

If you had funds in an e-bullion account, there is NO reason to wait by your mailbox for the check to arrive. That is a long way off. It is likely you will be filing a claim and waiting until after the trail a receiver could be the one sending out checks for pennies on the dollar. Also be prepared to show a ‘source of funds’ for that money, the government is NOT in the habit of sending the proceeds of crime back to the crooks. That tugging you feel at your pocket…that’s the long arm of the law.

The hundreds of HYIP scams now in operation accepting e-bullion, you can just kiss those funds goodbye.

Cheaters justice. I really hate those scams.

Also, I’m now told by some people that the the FBI may even be legally scalping a percentage of the seized assets although I’m not sure exactly how that would work.

What is going on now?

The defense has requested some funds be released from the government seized loot.

“…an order to immediately release $300,000 in order to preserve exculpatory evidence contained within the Internet servers 2 and computer network system operated by defendants and the 3 business entity e-Bullion.com …Approximately $100,000 per month is needed to pay for server rack space, security software, bandwidth and personnel to maintain defendants’ Internet servers and computer network system.”

Jim’s lawyers are asking for the release of $300k to cover the continuing operation of the businesses. (to keep the servers alive)  They are telling the court that on these servers is evidence which the defense might use to prove Jim’s innocence and that information needs to be allowed to survive throughout his trail and persecution….sorry prosecution.

“…evidence is at a risk of loss due to the sudden and unjustified shutdown and seizure of defendants’ lawful business. The exculpatory evidence that will be lost when the Internet servers and computer network go down is the evidence needed by the defendants establish their innocence.”

Finally, there is the ever present reality that possible charges relating to the murder could be forthcoming from the State or Federal Government.

Is there a bright side of the story or silver lining to any of this?

In fact there could be, Goldfinger and Mr. Fayed may not even have been the actual targets of the longstanding FBI and IRS investigation.

On February 26, 2008, when the original sealed indictment was issued, the prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney Mark Aveis, told the US District Court magistrate:

“…The indictment represents one of several steps in a long-term investigation by the FBI and IRS regarding fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing…”

Despite the prosecutor calling e-bullion the ponzi, there is much evidence to suggest that the larger government case is focused on an old matter now being sorted out in the court. Can e-bullion be labeled a ponzi if it was just the company receiving funds on behalf of an account holder?

I think the ponzi and terror financing case they are all referring to is that of Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a/k/a “Michael Mixon and “Flat Electronic Data Interchange” or F.E.D.I.  This appears to have been a ponzi scheme run by “Michael Mixon” and associates in which they used the e-bullion and Goldfinger accounts to receive their scam proceeds. Here is some background on that case, and some documents from the files that show these crooks may have only been using e-bullion to receive their ponzi funds.  There is NO evidence yet that e-bullion ever operated a ponzi.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a/k/a “Michael Mixon and FEDI

From approximately 1998 through 2004, Alishtari committed a massive fraud in which he stole millions of dollars from his victims through the operation of a loan investment program he called the “Flat Electronic Data Interchange” (“FEDI”). FEDI was purportedly a high-yield investment scheme, in which Alishtari falsely promised his investors that, in exchange for their investment, they would receive high, guaranteed rates of return, according to the indictment.

NEW YORK—Michael J. Garcia, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mark J. Mershon, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Raymond W. Kelly, the New York City Police Commissioner, announced today the arrest of Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a/k/a “Michael Mixon,” on attempt charges of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism, and international money laundering, as well as additional charges of conspiracy and wire fraud. According to the five-count Indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court earlier today. Alishtari, a 53-year-old resident of Ardsley, New York, facilitated the transfer of $152,000 with the intention that it be used in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help train terrorists. Specifically, in the latter half of 2006, Alishtari accepted payment to discreetly transfer these funds, believing that they were earmarked for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Alishtari believed that the funds were being sent abroad to support a terrorism training camp in Afghanistan by funding the purchase of equipment such as night vision goggles. One of these transfers, which is also the subject of the international money laundering charge in the Indictment, relates to Alishtari’s transfer of $25,000 from a bank account in New York to a bank account in Montreal, Canada, with the intent that the funds be used to provide material support to terrorists. *http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/terroristfinancing021607.htm

http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/Enforcement/Proceedings/SOA/soa_20030611_anderson-et-al.pdf

If there was ever any question to whether e-bullion had previously cooperated with the authorities on legal subpoena’s Mr. Fayed’s attorney is desperately trying to dispel that myth. This new court document offers up over two dozen agents of the government that e-bullion worked with providing requested account information.

There is a huge amount of additional information, history and data to be discussed regarding e-bullion. We will be detailing more documents, data and updates in this month’s issue of DGCmagazine.com so please look out for the new monthly issue around the 27th of August or sooner.

E-Gold and its corporate affiliate Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The principal director of E-Gold and CEO of Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. (Gold & Silver Reserve), Dr. Douglas Jackson, 51, of Melbourne, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. E-Gold’s other two senior directors, Barry Downey, 48, of Baltimore, and Reid Jackson, 45, of Melbourne, each pleaded guilty to felony violations of District of Columbia law relating to operating a money transmitting business without a license. E-Gold, Gold & Silver Reserve and the three company directors were charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on April 24, 2007.

At sentencing, E-Gold and Gold & Silver Reserve face a maximum fine of $3.7 million. Douglas Jackson faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of $500,000 on the conspiracy to engage in money laundering charge, and a sentence of five years and a fine of $250,000 on the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business charge. Downey and Reid Jackson each face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $25,000. Additionally, as part of the plea, E-Gold and Gold & Silver Reserve have agreed to forfeiture in the amount of $1.75 million in the form of a money judgment for which they are joint and severally liable. Sentencing for all defendants has been set for Nov. 20, 2008.

In addition to the fines and prison sentences, each of the defendants agreed that E-Gold and Gold & Silver Reserve will move to fully comply with all applicable federal and state laws relating to operating as a licensed money transmitting business and the prevention of money laundering which includes registering as money service businesses. Also as part of the plea agreement, the businesses will create a comprehensive money laundering detection program that will require verified customer identification, suspicious activity reporting and regular supervision by the Internal Revenue Services’ (IRS) Bank Secrecy Act Division, to which the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network delegated authority according to federal regulations. E-Gold and Gold & Silver Reserve will hire a consultant to ensure their compliance with applicable law and hire an auditor to verify the companies’ claims that all transactions are fully backed by gold bullion.

Under federal law and District of Columbia law, in addition to other jurisdictions, the E-Gold operation was required to be licensed and registered as a money transmitting business. However, according to information in plea materials, the E-Gold operation functioned as a money transmitting business without registering with the federal government and without a license in the District of Columbia. Because these businesses and individuals illegally failed to register and follow applicable regulations under federal and District of Columbia laws, the resulting lack of oversight and required procedures created an atmosphere where criminals could use “e-gold”, or digital currency, essentially anonymously to further their illegal activities.

Specifically, according to information contained in plea materials, the E-Gold operation provided digital currency services over the Internet through two sites: www.e-gold.com and www.Omnipay.com. Several characteristics of the E-Gold operation made it attractive to users engaged in criminal activity, such as not requiring users to provide their true identity, or any specific identity. The E-Gold operation continued to allow accounts to be opened without verification of user identity, despite knowing that “e-gold” was being used for criminal activity, including child exploitation, investment scams, credit card fraud and identity theft. In addition, E-Gold assigned employees with no prior relevant experience to monitor hundreds of thousands of accounts for criminal activity. They also participated in designing a system that expressly encouraged users whose criminal activity had been discovered to transfer their criminal proceeds among other “e-gold” accounts. Unlike other Internet payment systems, the E-Gold operation did not include any statement in its user agreement prohibiting the use of “e-gold” for criminal activity.

“By failing to comply with money laundering laws and regulations, the E-Gold operation created an environment ripe for exploitation by criminals seeking anonymity in conducting online transactions,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich. “This case demonstrates that online payment systems must operate according to the applicable rules and regulations created to ensure lawful monetary transactions.”

“The operations of E-Gold Ltd. and the other defendants undermined the laws designed to maintain the integrity of our financial system and created opportunities for criminal activity,” said U.S. Attorney Taylor. “Because of the successful prosecution of these defendants, digital currency providers everywhere are now on notice that they must comply with federal banking laws or they will be subject to prosecution.”

“The Secret Service is pleased with the successful outcome of the E-gold investigation,” said U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director for Investigations Michael Stenger. “This case demonstrated that even the most sophisticated criminals cannot escape the combined resources of the Secret Service and our law enforcement partners. The Secret Service is committed to our mission of safeguarding the nation’s critical financial infrastructure and we will continue to pursue criminals seeking to use the Internet and new technologies to commit crimes.”

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Haray of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Senior Counsel Kimberly Kiefer Peretti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Laurel Loomis Rimon, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. William Cowden of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Asset Forfeiture Unit assisted with forfeiture issues involved in the case.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/…2645AC7}&dist=hppr

https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/CourtSched.pl

http://blog.e-gold.com/2008/07/a-new-beginning.html