JUDGE: FAMILY’S $80 MILLION GOLD COIN COLLECTION BELONGS TO UNCLE SAM

[Coffee]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/judge-f ... uncle-sam/

A judge has ruled that ten rare gold coins worth roughly $80 million belong to the U.S. government, not the family that possessed them, according to ABC News.

In 2003 Joan Langbord and two other family members opened a safety deposit box that belonged to Langbord’s father, Philadelphia coin dealer Israel Switt, and found the valuable collection.  When they asked the Philadelphia Mint to authenticate the find, the coins were apparently seized without compensation and taken to Fort Knox.

The 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is “one of the most sought-after rarities in history,”? according to Courthouse News.  Originally valued at $20 each, one owned by King Farouk of Egypt reportedly sold for as much as $7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2002.

The Langbords unsuccessfully sued the government in 2011, alleging that the coins are rightfully theirs, and now they have lost the appeal.

Jacqueline Romero, assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, explained that the coins legally belonged to the government after Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered citizens to exchange their gold for cash in an effort to keep the banks afloat during the Great Depression.

“Those coins were all in a vault and were supposed to be melted,”? she asserted.

Newsy contributes, including an explanation of FDR’s policy:

The family maintains that in another seizure of the valuable coin, the government split the proceeds with the original owner after it sold for $7.59 million in 2002, and that the coins escaped the Mint legitimately through a “window of opportunity”? between March 15 and April 5, 1933, the Huffington Post relates.

However, U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis Jr. wrote in his decision: “The Mint meticulously tracked the ‘33 Double Eagles, and the records show that no such transaction occurred…What’s more, this absence of a paper trail speaks to criminal intent. If whoever took or exchanged the coins thought he was doing no wrong, we would expect to see some sort of documentation reflecting the transaction, especially considering how carefully and methodically the Mint accounted for the ‘33 Double Eagles.”?

“Nobody witnessed the disappearance of the 10 coins, but the jury could – and did – properly infer criminal intent,”? Davis added.

Barry Berke, the family’s attorney, concluded for ABCNews.com: “This is a case that raises many novel legal questions, including the limits on the government’s power to confiscate property.”?

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[MediumTex]

It seems like it would have been a better idea to take these coins to Europe and seek a buyer there.

[Reub]

Yes, in hindsight. But then couldn't the long arm of the law have come after them anyway?

[Pointedstick]

It's stories like that that make me chuckle when I read MMTers and other statists assert that the government exists to foster private wealth.

"We had to destroy your wealth in order to save it!"

[craigr]

If I recall this correctly, it is likely the coins were in fact stolen from the government.

[Ad Orientem]

If I recall this correctly, it is likely the coins were in fact stolen from the government.

That is correct. As much as it galls me to side with the government, in this situation there is very strong evidence that the coins were stolen property.

[Coffee]

It seems like it would have been a better idea to take these coins to Europe and seek a buyer there.

I think you have to declare if you're leaving the U.S. with more than $10,000, right?  So, you're breaking the law.

And even if you can smuggle them out, what then?  Good luck trying to open an account as an American and not get turned into the IRS.  My understanding is that almost all international wire transfers must go through New York, so if the banks don't play ball when it comes to reporting Americans... they can be effectively shut out. 

[dragoncar]

If I recall this correctly, it is likely the coins were in fact stolen from the government.

That is correct. As much as it galls me to side with the government, in this situation there is very strong evidence that the coins were stolen property.

As much as it galls me to side with my fellow Americans, I usually try not to think that my gut reaction is better than the informed decision of a jury, who actually heard all the evidence in the case.

[dualstow]

I buy my gold coins on the very same street where the original thie- er, jeweler in this article had a shop.
This story has been followed by the local paper for several years now.

[l82start]

If I recall this correctly, it is likely the coins were in fact stolen from the government.

That is correct. As much as it galls me to side with the government, in this situation there is very strong evidence that the coins were stolen property.

As much as it galls me to side with my fellow Americans, I usually try not to think that my gut reaction is better than the informed decision of a jury, who actually heard all the evidence in the case.

i believe it was the decision of a single judge (U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis Jr.) not a jury,
i don't know all the evidence myself  so i have come to no conclusion, i can see a judge siding with gov over the people, and i can see the potential that unreleased coins got where they ended up as a result of theft... 

[notsheigetz]

When they asked the Philadelphia Mint to authenticate the find, the coins were apparently seized without compensation and taken to Fort Knox.

I wonder how many members of this forum, upon opening a safe deposit box containing gold coins, would take them to a government agency to have them authenticated? I'm thinking not many.

[dragoncar]

i believe it was the decision of a single judge (U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis Jr.) not a jury,
i don't know all the evidence myself  so i have come to no conclusion, i can see a judge siding with gov over the people, and i can see the potential that unreleased coins got where they ended up as a result of theft...  

"Nobody witnessed the disappearance of the 10 coins, but the jury could – and did – properly infer criminal intent," Davis added.

Basically, the Judge upheld the jury's decision as not batshit crazy (a legal term).

[l82start]

"Nobody witnessed the disappearance of the 10 coins, but the jury could – and did – properly infer criminal intent," Davis added.

Basically, the Judge upheld the jury's decision as not batshit crazy (a legal term).

sounds fair...  i still haven't  read up on the details, but i have heard the claim that there was some kind of window of opportunity for the coins to have been acquired legitimately, but i don't know if it holds water .. it obviously didn't with the jury or the judge that upheld their decision

[smurff]

It seems like it would have been a better idea to take these coins to Europe and seek a buyer there.

The other new coin known to have survived the 1933 confiscation was auctioned in 2002 and the proceeds split between the US government and the coin-dealer owner (the original owner, King Farouk of Egypt, somehow acquired it after the 1933 confiscation).  It sold for $6.6 million, add a 15% buyer's premium, and the total came to $7.59 million--plus another $20 to "monetize" the coin and compensate the mint for the coin's theft. 

Fenton fought a several year-long legal battle in the U.S. courts over ownership of the coin, during time which it was stored in the Treasury Vaults at the World Trade Center. A mere 2 months before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the lawsuit was settled and the Double Eagle was moved to Fort Knox. Fenton and the U.S. Mint had come to a compromise: the coin would be sold at auction, with the proceeds split between the Fenton and the Mint.

http://coins.about.com/od/famousrarecoi ... _Eagle.htm

[dualstow]

Follow-up:
Court: Rare coins belong to jeweler's family

A fortune in 1930s gold coins seized by the federal government from the family of a deceased Philadelphia jeweler must be returned, a federal appeals court said Friday.
For more than a decade, the U.S. Treasury Department insisted, and persuaded a jury, that the rare coins had been stolen and belonged to the government.

But on Friday it lost the argument and the coins - because of paperwork.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said the government had failed to file a timely forfeiture action,

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/natio ... amily.html

[Ad Orientem]

Well I guess this is why the lady with the scales wears a blindfold. The rule of law has prevailed, though I can't say the same for justice.

[dualstow]

Well I guess this is why the lady with the scales wears a blindfold. The rule of law has prevailed, though I can't say the same for justice.

Strange isn't it? I can see getting out of a parking ticket because the cop was a no-show in court, but this is bureacracy at its "finest."

[Wooly Mammoth]

"I think you have to declare if you're leaving the U.S. with more than $10,000, right?  So, you're breaking the law."

Not sure about American law, but a few years ago I checked the Canadian customs website to see their position on transporting over $10,000 in gold and it was my interpretation that they did not consider gold to count as currency. Moot point, though, as my wife's handbag passed through security unmolested.

Besides, law is open to interpretation: once you have $80 mil in your pocket you can hire enough lawyers to tie things up in court til your grandchildren have grandchildren.