E-Gold Responds to Federal Money Laundering Charges

In an interview with Kim Zetter of the Wired Blog Network, E-Gold owner Dr. Douglas Jackson stated this morning that the Federal indictments announced by the US Department of Justice last Friday are a "farce".

Associated Content first released the news of the indictments on Saturday in this news story.

Dr. Jackson, E-Gold, and the other owners were charged with:

1. conspiracy to launder monetary instruments,
2. conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business,
3. operating an unlicensed money transmitting business under federal law,
4. money transmission without a license under D.C. law.

According to Jackson, E-Gold is one of the good guys in this crime-fighting saga and its ensuing fiasco. Not only did they cooperate with law enforcement officials regarding suspicious E-Gold accounts, but they also developed software which effectively tracks criminals trying to launder money through E-Gold, and prevents use of the E-Gold system to aid and abet their criminal activities. They were waging their own war against the very things they have been accused of aiding: terrorism, child exploitation, and more.

In fact, Jackson released an email he received from a law enforcement agency thanking him for helping to track down a company involved in online child pornography. The email starts out with, "We are now in possession of the XXXX target information. Thankyou." It goes on to detail the next step of the operation -- for E-gold to obtain the further evidence they needed to be able to convict the criminal. They end the email with, "Again I appreciate the data and hope that this is something that won't overly task you. Thanks." (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/04/egold_owner_cal.html)

With E-Gold so actively involved in aiding the Federal government to help take a bite out of cybercrime, then why the sudden indictments?

Jackson says that it's because the Department of Justice and the Secret Service are "dysfunctional" and that a long time ago they decided he must be the bad guy. In fact, "a high-level US attorney told him privately, 'We know you guys aren't criminals, and the last thing we want is for anyone to go to jail. We don't want the company to fail we just want you to clean up your act.'" (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/04/egold_owner_cal.html)

In light of this evidence, the money laundering charges tend to pale. But what about the charges regarding operating an unlicensed money transmitting business? Similar charges have been brought against E-Gold before, and then dropped, because E-gold doesn't transmit money.

They transmit gold and other precious metals. When anyone makes an E-Gold transaction, they actually transfer a specific weight of gold from their account to another's account. These transactions are backed by actual physical gold and other precious metals which are in repositories.

For these reasons and more, Jackson is taking the stance that the charges are a "farce." Regardless of what he thinks about them, they are serious federal charges which he will have to face in the coming months. The Wired Blog Network reports that he intends to turn himself in to face these charges on Thursday.

Remember that in our justice system, one is innocent until proven guilty. It will be the burden of the prosecutors to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that E-Gold has broken the law.