Murdered Fayed Wanted to Cooperate With Prosecutors

About a month before she was stabbed to death in a parking garage in Los Angeles, CA in an area known as Century City, which is a high rent district consisting of office towers for high-priced lawyers and the like (Robert Shapiro has office space in one of the towers.),Pamela Fayed notified federal prosecutors that she wanted to cooperate in a criminal probe into the international gold trading business she owned with her estranged husband, James Fayed, according to documents filed Tuesday in federal court by Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Aveis.

The government has been investigating the couple's business as a possible Ponzi scheme. They operated under the names, Goldfinger Coin and Bullion Sales and an associated Internet firm, e-Bullion.

At a hearing Monday, Aveis told a federal magistrate judge that an SUV linked to the attack on Pamela Fayed was rented with a credit card bearing James Fayed's name. Aveis also said that Fayed had previously threatened his wife, with whom he was going through a bitter divorce, and said that he could have her killed "and my hands would be clean." Citing this and other evidence, Aveis asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky to detain Fayed without bail.

But Zarefsky denied the request, citing "pretty thin" evidence connecting the murder charge to the federal case, and set bail for Fayed at $500,000. But he also ordered Fayed held until today to allow prosecutors to appeal his decision.

Aveis told the court on Monday that the Fayeds had taken in some $20 million in what he termed a "Ponzi scheme". $3 million in gold was seized from James Fayed's house on Friday. There has yet been no public accounting as to how much is still owed to depositors of the $20 million that the couple originally took in, and how much, outside of the $3 million seized, can be accounted for.

UPDATE: We are now reading the latest filing from Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis, according to the filing James Fayed has $2.2 million in real estate equity and $7 million in assets.

Three Million in Gold Bullion Seized at Gold Dealers House

Authorities have seized $60,000 cash, some of it sealed in shrink wrap, and $3 million in gold bullion at the Moorpark, CA ranch house of James Fayed, whose wife, Pamela, was murdered last week. Twenty-five assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were also seized from the house, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark R. Aveis

Fayed, who was seeking a divorce from his wife, both jointly owned Goldfinger Coin and Bullion Sales and an associated Internet firm, e-Bullion.

Fayed was arrested Friday evening on charges relating to his business. In a court hearing today in Los Angeles, CA, Aveis characterized Fayed's business operations during 2005 and 2006 as ponzi schemes in which individuals invested up to $20 million.

In a further bombshell development, police have determined that the vehicle used by the murderer in the slaying of Pamela Fayed was rented with a credit card bearing the name of her estranged husband.

The credit card was seized from the wallet of James Fayed during a recent search of his Moorpark ranch house, said Aveis.