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.
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