Prosecutors seek $8.6M from e-gold for alleged illegal transfers

Federal prosecutors are seeking about $8.6 million from a companythat operated an illegal online money transmitting business that thegovernment claims is tied to child pornography and financial crimes.

The government's civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. DistrictCourt in Baltimore targets e-gold Ltd., which enabled users to openan "e-gold account" and transfer the digital funds online. Thegovernment says the online, anonymously held accounts havefacilitated the sale of child pornography, as well as credit cardfraud, identity theft and the sale of stolen or non-existent goodson the Internet.

The company pleaded guilty in 2008 to operating an illegal moneytransmitting business. As part of the plea deal, the company agreedits electronic accounts were subject to civil forfeiture and agreedto identify any e-gold accounts that contained funds traceable tocriminal activity.

The federal government said it has already seized more than $19million during its investigation of e-gold Ltd.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and David Beach of theU.S. Secret Service announced the filing of the complaint.