Goldex.net stop e-gold outexchange

DUE TO OMNIPAY'S SERVICE SUSPENSION UNTIL JUNE 18, WE ARE FORCED TO SUSPEND ALL EGOLD OUTEXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS, INCLUDING TRANSFERS FROM EGOLD TO BANK WIRES, CHECKS, OTHER ONLINE CURRENCIES AND TO THE DEBIT CARDS

WE REGRET WE HAVE TO TAKE THIS ACTION HOWEVER IT IS A CONSEQUENCE OF FACTS TOTALLY BEYOND OUR CONTROL


ALL PREVIOUSLY ENTERED ORDERS ARE BEING COMPLETED ACCORDING TO THE SCHEDULE PRESENT ON THE SITE AT THE TIME THE ORDER WAS ENTERED

REGARDS

GOLDEX ADMIN

OmniPay temporarily suspends exchange to transition to OmniPay Africa

Effective immediately, G&SR will be leasing the OmniPay business to OmniPay Africa. All OmniPay exchanges will now involve e-gold transfers and money payments into/out of OmniPay Africa's e-gold and bank accounts respectively. G&SR has contracted to serve as the Operator of OmniPay but will not be a party to actual exchanges.

In terms of immediate impacts:

• The OmniPay exchange service will suspend operation pending provisioning of a suitable bank account for OmniPay Africa. It is anticipated this service interruption will start May 24, 2007 with service resuming on or about June 18, 2007.
• With resumption, all bank wires from customers must be directed to
  the new bank coordinates which will be posted on the omnipay.com website.

The original plan was for OmniPay Africa to organize as a licensee of G&SR, the US company that owns OmniPay. A substantial development effort was underway to support the additional requirements for over-the-counter exchange operations such as biometric validation. However, recent actions of the US government, originating from a long-standing and misguided animus on the part of the US Secret Service, necessitate immediate action. Specifically, SEB Bank in Estonia has notified G&SR it is closing its bank account at close of business May 25, 2007 explicitly because of the Press Release from the US DOJ.

We regret the temporary interruption of OmniPay services. Just as the US government's recent actions in seizing e-gold accounts of e-gold Ltd., G&SR, The Bullion Exchange, AnyGoldNow, IceGold, GitGold, The Denver Gold Exchange, GoldPouch Express and 1MDC (and forcing G&SR to liquidate the seized assets!) have severely damaged not only these exchange businesses but also their innumerable customers, their forcing this complex transition to be performed on an emergency basis is simply shameful.

We do not however regret the transfer of OmniPay responsibilities to OmniPay Africa. As will become abundantly clear in coming months, the OmniPay Africa team is highly qualified to guide OmniPay to a higher level, a genuinely global service that will foster a beneficial surge in e-gold's emergence while bringing significant advantages to emerging economies.

Strategic Background

A major strategic emphasis for e-gold is to provide sophisticated remote payments capabilities to the majority of mankind underserved by or excluded by the banking system. An important focus is international remittances - payments from migrant workers living in advanced economies sending a portion of their earnings to their home country. For many developing economies, migrant remittances constitute a significant portion of foreign exchange income and even GDP. Traditional remittance mechanisms, however, are expensive and inflexible. It is estimated that lowering the net cost of remittances by a few percentage points could measurably enhance economic development. There is also increasing awareness that non-traditional banking such as micro-credit facilities can also aid in bootstrapping lesser developed economies.

OmniPay Africa, an entirely non-US company, majority owned by prominent business leaders from the Francophone countries of West Africa, was therefore organized to extend the usefulness of e-gold by providing support for over-the-counter exchange and by fostering the integration of e-gold into micro-credit lending institutions. The combination of e-gold (settling the international transfer of value with no need for a financial intermediary) and OmniPay (offering standardized, reliable, low cost exchange to/from local currency) will serve as a flexible low cost alternative to the traditional systems.

US Government Forces E-gold Redemptions - Seizes Gold

In an unprecedented move on or just before Wednesday May 9th, 2007, the United States of America has forced Omnipay et al E-gold to redeem all the gold backing the 58 previously frozen accounts owned by e-gold, 1mdc, icegold and a handful of other exchangers and customers to be liquidated effective immediately to a us dollar account owned by the federal government.

According to the reduction in the gold bar list, the bar count
has dropped by 48 bars of approximately 400 oz each between May 3, and May 9.

This redemption totals USD $11.357 Million.

Date Gold Grams ($ Value)
03-05-07 3,489,436 77.015 Million
09-05-07 2,974,871 65.668 Milllion

Gold Bars value Sold: USD 11.357 Million

MoneyNetNews has learned from a reliable source that e-gold has been ordered to hand over a fresh copy of the customer database when the redemption is completed.

MoneyNetNews cannot confirm if all of the 48 bars redeemed account for the forfeiture action of the United States. It is possible that a part of this activity can be accounted for by increased volatility in e-gold's general market.

Not only was E-gold / Omnipay ordered to convert gold (and silver) holdings in the seized accounts into US Dollars, but that included their own (Omnipay's, and E-gold's) frozen (seized) accounts. This will ultimately result is great losses of value over time even if the victims of the seizures are found to be innocent due to the in progress bull market in gold and bear market in US Dollars.

The seizure order appears to be unrelated to the criminal case in progress against E-gold and OmniPay in that the seizure of the accounts by the government was done under a (separate) civil case, for which the Government has yet to file anything.

By doing so, the government was able to seize accounts without having to reveal anything to the owners of the accounts themselves. By law, the government has 30, and possibly up to 90 days to file a complaint.

Until the government civil filing is done, none of the victims of the seizures can possibly do anything to defend themselves, not even obtain information as to why their accounts have been seized, or what they would have done wrong.

None of the victims of the account seizures have been advised of anything officially at this time.

Outexchanges suspended again

We have suspended e-gold outexchanges again due to large volume of orders. We will resume outexchanging when we are in need of e-gold again or can sell to Omnipay.

Icegold Outexchanges resumed

We have resumed outexchaning e-gold again, at 3% below spot rate. Since the situation with Omnipay is still unclear we cannot estimate for how long we can continue buying e-gold before the next pause.

Icegold stopped buying e-gold !

We have temporarily stopped e-gold outexchanges because we are unable to sell our exessive e-gold to Omnipay at the moment. We will resume outexchanging again when we are in need of e-gold ourselves or have received a confirmation from Omnipay that they are ready to buy e-gold from us. We expect to operate normally again by the next week.

E-gold responds to DoJ indictments

The founder and chairman of e-gold has issued a scathing response to recent allegations by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), insisting that e-gold has been made a " scapegoat".

Dr Douglas Jackson said that the charges of money laundering and enabling criminal transactions are the result of a political vendetta.

In an open letter posted on the company's website, Dr Jackson accused the DoJ of "subordinating actual crime fighting to a policy agenda".

E-gold was indicted late last week on charges of money laundering, conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

"This case has nothing to do with criminal activity," the e-gold statement read. "It is about a DoJ that is out of control, cognisant of having made a horrible mistake but determined at all costs to preserve its turf."

Dr Jackson said that all of the charges are false and that the company has been a leader in the fight against child pornography. Using e-gold to launder money is nearly impossible, he stated.

"E-gold, as a matter of incontrovertible fact, is the most effective of all online payment systems in detecting and interdicting abuse of its system for child pornography related payments," said Dr Jackson.

He also pointed out that the company was a founding member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Financial Coalition to Eliminate Child Pornography.

Dr Jackson added that, because the company deals strictly in precious metals and does not handle any currency, it would be impossible for e-gold to launder money.

"As far as the possibility of a criminal successfully obfuscating a money trail, e-gold is a closed system. The only way to obtain e-gold is by receiving a transfer from someone who already has some," he said.

A DoJ spokesperson told vnunet.com: "It is an interesting defence for them to raise at trial," declining to give any further comment on the statement.

Dr Jackson claimed that the charges have their roots in a feud between e-gold and the US Secret Service, which handles the investigation and enforcement of counterfeiting and financial fraud in the US.

The Secret Service had been organising a campaign against e-gold in an effort to scapegoat the company since 2001, according to Dr Jackson.

"During The Inquisition, accusations of witchcraft and heresy were used to sanctify torture and seizures of property. In post 9-11 America, child porn and terrorism serve as the denunciations of choice," said Dr Jackson.