e-Bullion
e-Bullion was a digital gold currency founded by Jim Fayed, a resident of Moorpark, California, USA. The company was incorporated in December, 2000, and launched on July 4, 2001. As of 4 August 2008[update] Jim Fayed was in United States Federal custody facing felony charges of conducting unlicensed money transactions via e-Bullion and the murder of Pamela Fayed (his estranged wife and business partner), and e-Bullion was closed for business and the website unavailable.
Similar to competing systems such as e-gold, e-Bullion allowed for the instant transfer of gold and silver between user accounts. e-Bullion was a registered legal corporate entity of Panama.
Contents |
[edit] Features
As with any digital gold currency, the main focus was keeping assets away from fiat currencies so as to avoid inflationary risks associated with such currencies.
- It moved its primary servers to Switzerland. The redundant servers and equipment were also outside United States jurisdiction.
- Unlike e-gold, e-Bullion provided its own in-house currency exchange service. An e-Bullion account could be funded directly via wire transfer from a bank account.
- e-Bullion was the first DGC to issue its own debit card linked to an account.
- e-Bullion was the first to use CRYPTOCard technology to physically protect user accounts.
- Goldfinger Bullion Reserve Corporation, a sister company of e-Bullion, held the precious metals in bullion storage vaults located in Los Angeles, Delaware, Zurich or Australia.
- Users could hold and transfer value in gold, silver, or US dollars which they designate as e-Currency. The amount of bullion or US dollars held in the e-Bullion system was undisclosed.
[edit] 2008 murder of e-Bullion principal and federal felony charges
On Monday July 28, 2008 Jim Fayed's estranged wife Pamela Fayed was stabbed to death[1] in a parking structure at 1875 E. Century Park in Century City, California. The crime occurred at 6:30PM in daylight and was overheard by numerous people who responded to the victim's screams. A surveillance camera recorded enough details for a rental car to be identified by license plate and for a suspect description to be announced[2]. She was due to appear that day in one of several ongoing legal meetings in her divorce from Jim Fayed and was reportedly attempting to stop him from moving or hiding some of the joint assets involved in e-Bullion. As of 4 August 2008[update] Fayed was in United States Federal custody facing felony charges of conducting unlicensed money transactions via e-Bullion. Federal authorities seized $60,000 in cash, $3,000,000 in gold bullion and a credit card that allegedly was used to pay for the rental car that fled from the murder scene[3]..
The e-Bullion website was taken down for a 4-hour "maintenance" window at 1PM Pacific, August 5, 2008. As of April 2010[update] it was still unavailable and court papers filed by James Fayed as part of his divorce proceedings indicate that normal website operations would be impossible without his active oversight and direction[4].
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Former e-Bullion official website
- Internet archive copies of e-Bullion website. Last version 23 June 2008
- The Indomitus Report, A 2004 Status Report on Free Market Money
- Digital Gold Currency Online Magazine
[edit] References
- ^ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/homicidereport/2008/07/century-city-wo.html
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-centurycity30-2008jul30,0,6019092.story
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-centurycity5-2008aug05,0,1124595.story
- ^ http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/08/12/court-papers-indicate-james-fayed-had-absolute-control-over-e-bullion
