Victims of Camarillo fraud operation repaid $9.8M
Jeremy Childs
More than 1,000 victims have been repaid $9.8 million in restitution from an illegal money-transmitting operation that was run by a Camarillo man now on death row for having his wife killed.
The U.S. Justice Department said the victims were investors who used e-Bullion, an illegal money transmitting website owned by former Camarillo resident James Fayed. Fayed is currently on death row after being convicted of contracting hit men to murder his wife, Pamela Fayed, in 2008.
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The funds were disbursed Wednesday pursuant to a civil forfeiture judgment from gold and silver stored at a mint in Perth, Australia. The funds had been stored in the mint by Fayed and his companies Goldfinger Coin and Bullion and Goldfinger Bullion Reserve Corp., according to the Justice Department.
The company e-Bullion purported to allow people to invest in precious metals by using money to purchase “e-currency” used to back precious metal reserves owned by Fayed, according to the Justice Department. In practice, e-Bullion allowed people engaging in fraud to obtain money from victims and move the money around the world while remaining virtually anonymous, according to the Justice Department.
This disbursement follows previous disbursements of $1.8 million in civilly forfeited funds to more than 300 victims in December 2014 and about $11.7 million disbursed to more than 1,000 victims in November 2015.
fficials obtained information from e-Bullion and Goldfinger Coin and Bullion encrypted computer servers that Fayed stored in California and Switzerland, and that information was used to identify e-Bullion account holders and the value of their accounts. The recovered funds were distributed to innocent account holders.
Jeremy Childs is a breaking news and public safety reporter covering the night shift for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached by calling 805-437-0208 or emailing jeremy.childs@vcstar.com.