An apalling story from TGE. An excerpt:
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The amazing thing about this case is that Metalor merely sold gold to a third party without any involvement in what was apparently an operation to launder money from drug sales in the United States. The dangerous precedent here is that a gold dealer is being held responsible for what the buyer did with the bullion after the fact. Since Metalor was one party removed from the actual laundering of drug money, the pretense used by the U.S. Attorney's office to indict the company and seize $423,000 in profits was that Metalor sold the gold to an exporter who violated the tax law of an un-named South American country.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Metalor has agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine and forfeit $423,000 in profits. If the company had been found guilty at trial it could have faced a fine of $9 million, double the amount of the disputed transactions.
This case confirms the worst fears of Robert Pilon, Director of the Cato Institute for Constitutional Studies, as predicted in an article he wrote in December 2001 about the Money Laundering provisions in the USA Patriot Act.
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Full story is here.
Phaedrus
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The amazing thing about this case is that Metalor merely sold gold to a third party without any involvement in what was apparently an operation to launder money from drug sales in the United States. The dangerous precedent here is that a gold dealer is being held responsible for what the buyer did with the bullion after the fact. Since Metalor was one party removed from the actual laundering of drug money, the pretense used by the U.S. Attorney's office to indict the company and seize $423,000 in profits was that Metalor sold the gold to an exporter who violated the tax law of an un-named South American country.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Metalor has agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine and forfeit $423,000 in profits. If the company had been found guilty at trial it could have faced a fine of $9 million, double the amount of the disputed transactions.
This case confirms the worst fears of Robert Pilon, Director of the Cato Institute for Constitutional Studies, as predicted in an article he wrote in December 2001 about the Money Laundering provisions in the USA Patriot Act.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Full story is here.
Phaedrus
