e-gold Wins Appeal in D.C. Circuit for Hearing on Asset Seizure

Yesterday, April 20th, e-gold Ltd. announced that they have won a favorable ruling from The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the matter of whether e-gold Ltd., Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc., and Directors of both corporations are entitled to a hearing in the Federal District Court regarding whether there was sufficient probable cause to justify seizures of assets from the corporations in December 2005 and April 2007.

If you recall, in April of last year, a number of government agencies raided the e-gold business and some criminal charges were filed against the operators. Many people at the time were shocked and surprised by the government's excessive actions. In early May, MoneyNetNews reported on the seized accounts.

"...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."

The vaulted gold bullion was sold and the funds were then turned over to the Federal Government. Following this action in June of 2007, Judge Rosemary Collyer denied a Motion to Vacate the Seizure Warrant Restraining Order and the Request for an Evidentiary Hearing.

Today's new information from e-gold Ltd, shows that the higher court has rightfully concluded that like any good American business, e-gold Ltd. deserves their day in court to be heard on this matter,

"In short, we hold that where the government has obtained a seizure warrant depriving defendants of assets pending a trial upon the merits, the constitutional right to due process of law entitles defendants to an opportunity to be heard at least where access to the assets is necessary for an effective exercise of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel."

This ruling will ultimately prove to be beneficial to the rights of all Americans whose Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights have been increasingly encroached upon in the name of fighting domestic wars du jour-whether or not they use e-gold. e-gold Ltd, Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc., and their Directors believe there was insufficient probable cause for the seizure warrants at issue and look forward to finally having their day in court on this matter.

From day one, ALL of these charges have been vigorously denied by the e-gold camp and the day to day business of e-gold, a leader global online payments backed by gold, continues to be strong.

The complete text of the Order is available here