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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
Hello
Interesting story. What got my attention was the location of the Safe Deposit Box here in Phoenix Arizona. I would guess more will come out on "Mark A. Seagrave". ---------------------------------------------------- FROM: http://www.news10.net/news/local/sto...?storyid=54792 Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold Posted By: George Warren 1 hr ago SACRAMENTO, CA - The mortgage fraud fugitive caught returning to the United States on Tuesday was carrying two safe deposit keys that led to more than $400,000 worth of gold coins. Christopher Warren, 26, was caught at the Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo after arriving in a taxicab from Toronto. U.S. authorities found $70,000 in cash stuffed into a shoe, several ounces of platinum and the keys. According to acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown, Warren admitted the keys would unlock a safe deposit box at at U.S. Bank branch on First Ave. in Phoenix. Armed with a search warrant, federal agents opened the box Friday and discovered 276 gold coins worth an estimated $413,000. They also found $7,500 in cash. Brown said the safe deposit box was rented under in the name of Mark A. Seagrave, the same name on the passport that Warren used to try to re-enter the country. During his week-long globetrotting adventure, federal authorities believe Warren stashed some of the proceeds from his illegal activity-- including as much as $5 million in gold. In a prepared statement, Brown said the search for the hidden assets continues. "We are firmly committed to tracking down the proceeds of Warren's brazen fraud," he said." Before he fled last week, Warren had been cooperating with authorities investigating the activities of Loomis Wealth Solutions and its founder, Lawrence "Lee" Loomis. Loomis' company is accused of running a multi-million dollar real estate Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of victims. Loomis has not been charged. ... |
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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
Hello
This is and updated story with more detail on the coins found in the safe deposit box. ------------------------------------------ FROM: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs...es/019625.html February 13, 2009 Agents seize contents of Phoenix bank box connected to huge mortgage-fraud case From Denny Walsh: Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Brown said Friday federal agents seized gold coins estimated to be worth $413,000 from a Phoenix safe deposit box belonging to former fugitive Christopher J. Warren of Sacramento, who fled the country in the face of a major fraud investigation. Some of the coins date to the time of the California Gold Rush. Warren, 26, was captured Tuesday night attempting to re-enter the country at the U.S.-Canadian border in Buffalo, N.Y. He had two keys to the safe deposit box and told agents it contained approximately $750,000, according to Brown. Days before he absconded from Las Vegas on a private jet to Ireland and then on to Lebanon, Warren rented the box under the name Mark A. Seagrave, the same alias he was traveling under when arrested, Brown said. Warren is accused by federal authorities of being a key player in one of the nation's largest mortgage and investment scams, with $100 million in losses to lenders and investors calculated thus far. He is charged in a criminal complaint in Sacramento federal court with conducting a continuing financial-crimes enterprise based at Loomis Wealth Solutions in Roseville. Warren was one of three fugitives under scrutiny in the federal probe. Garret Griffith Gililland III, 27, of Chico, and Scott Edward Cavell, 25, of Sacramento, also fled the country as investigators closed in. Gililland is in custody in Spain, fighting extradition. Cavell is still on the lam. "We are firmly committed to tracking down the proceeds of Warren's brazen fraud," Brown said. His office will seek forfeiture of the proceeds "and work to have the funds made available to his victims." Warren's investment portfolio was nothing if not diversified - coins, platinum, gold and cash. According to prosecutors Russell Carlberg and Matthew Stegman, FBI and IRS agents on Friday recovered 276 gold coins from the safe deposit box, "consisting of both Saint Gaudens Liberty 'Double Eagle'" coins minted between 1907 and 1932, and "Liberty Head" coins minted between 1849 and 1907. They also recovered $7,500 in cash, the prosecutors said. "The gold coins bear the face value of $20, but their market value today is estimated to be $413,000, due to their weight and their status as collector's items," Carlberg said. Warren told the crew of the private jet that he was carrying $5 million in gold and showed them some gold. He had arranged to be met in Beirut by armed escorts. The gold has not been recovered. When he was picked up in Buffalo, Warren had $70,000 in cash stashed in a shoe he was wearing and four ounces of platinum worth nearly $6,000. ... |
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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
Arizona Coin Collector wrote: When he was picked up in Buffalo, Warren had $70,000 in cash stashed in a shoe he was wearing and four ounces of platinum worth nearly $6,000. $70,000 in cash in a shoe he was wearing? Either they were elevator shoes or it was in Zimbabwe dollars! |
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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
"Jud" wrote in message ... Arizona Coin Collector wrote: When he was picked up in Buffalo, Warren had $70,000 in cash stashed in a shoe he was wearing and four ounces of platinum worth nearly $6,000. $70,000 in cash in a shoe he was wearing? Either they were elevator shoes or it was in Zimbabwe dollars! Wonder if there was also a phone in his shoe? |
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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
"Arizona Coin Collector" wrote in message m... When he was picked up in Buffalo, Warren had $70,000 in cash stashed in a shoe he was wearing and four ounces of platinum worth nearly $6,000. Was he wearing clown shoes? |
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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold
On Feb 13, 11:21 pm, "Arizona Coin Collector"
wrote: FROM:http://www.news10.net/news/local/sto...?storyid=54792 Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold Loomis' company is accused of running a multi-million dollar real estate Ponzi scheme ... Stories like this are usually pretty much what they seem to be, prima facie. That said, all of these allegations by prosecutors remain to be proved. Prosecutors get their ducks in a row before sending a trained and educated media spokesperson to meet the press, prosecutors themselves, of course, being skilled at presentations. Their accuseds (from any walk of life) typically are not -- and certainly do not have -- public affairs specialists to make their case for them contemporaneous with the prosecutor's announcements. Armed with a search warrant, federal agents opened the box Friday and discovered 276 gold coins worth an estimated $413,000. They also found $7,500 in cash. Consider the gold coins in the safe deposit box. How was their value determined? $413.000 divided by 276 coins is about $1500 each. What do Mint State double eagles go for, the ones "from the days of the California Gold Rush." What was the inventory, actually, and who evaluated it? That the accused are suspected of wrong-doing is pretty clear. My own experience and education tell me to be as cautious about this as I would be about the grade of a coin in a plastic holder. During his week-long globetrotting adventure, federal authorities believe Warren stashed some of the proceeds from his illegal activity-- including as much as $5 million in gold. Again, based on what? What basis do they have for making the claim in the first place? With "Ponzi Scheme" being a buzz word, any failed investment can be tarred with the brush. Investments entail risks. Since 2005, I have been researching "wildcat" banking in the 1830s-1850s and even a Krause press release for their catalog of obsoletes calls a failed bank a "fraud" -- though we don't apply that word to failed _farms_ from the same era. I think that there can be no more easily arguable (though unproved) case than Bernard Madoff. Yet, the facts are slow to come out. Hadassah originally claimed a $90 million loss... then a $130 million gain. (In fact, if this was a "Ponzi Scheme" then should not the original and long-time investors, such as Hadassah, be required to pay back the recent victims. I mean, that's how a Ponzi Scheme works, right? Some people made a lot of money right away. So, what's their culpability? We never ask. However, I assert that a true scholar and judge like "Rashi" -- Rabbi Shlomo Itzakh of 12 century Troyes -- could consider that question.) So, too, in this case. If this was a Ponzi Scheme, then there are early investors who "made out like bandits" you might say... Mike M. Michael E. Marotta "Rational skepticism." |
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