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Fugitive's Safe Deposit Box Yields $400K in Gold



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 14th 09, 05:21 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Arizona Coin Collector
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Posts: 1,199
Default 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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  #2  
Old February 14th 09, 04:08 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Arizona Coin Collector
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Posts: 1,199
Default 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.

...


  #3  
Old February 14th 09, 06:04 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Jud
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Posts: 1,215
Default 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!
  #4  
Old February 14th 09, 07:39 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
RWF
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Posts: 147
Default 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?

  #5  
Old February 15th 09, 01:24 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
PC[_7_]
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Posts: 855
Default 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?


  #6  
Old February 15th 09, 01:54 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mike Marotta
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Posts: 442
Default 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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