Thursday, September 10, 2009

Smiley arrested, again

Jack Smiley has been arrested and is currently in the Kootenai County Jail with a $100,000 bond. He has been charged with Grand Theft, General Fraud, Commodity Fraud, and 2 counts of Forgery.

These criminal charges have been brought by the Kootenai County prosecutor.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Distribution Order

Judge Mitchell has approved distribution of the Dinars, and has ordered the Receiver to distribute Dinars to all investors. The Department of Finance will not be converting the Dinars to dollars and sending out US Currency. All investors will receive Dinars.

The Receiver was able to sell some of Smiley's property, and has a small cash balance on hand. This will be used to pay for shipping. If there is any money left over once all costs have been paid, Judge Mitchell has ordered the receiver to pay this out to investors at the same ratio as the Dinar distribution. Thus, it is possible that investors may receive a small check at a later date. Keep your addresses current with the Department until the entire process is complete.

The Receiver is beginning to distribute the Dinars. Given that well over a hundred separate shipments must be made, probably close to two hundred, and the associated count and arrangements for tracking the shipments, it will take the Receiver at least a few days, and probably more, to complete all shipments.

For those investors who choose to do so, you may call the Receiver and make arrangements to travel to Boise to pick up your Dinars. Do not just show up here and ask for Dinars, call in advance and make an appointment. The Dinars are stored in a bank vault and must be retrieved and counted before they can be handed over.

The Receiver is Tim Martin, at (208) 332-8079.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Receiver Report

We faxed the receiver report to the judge today. Once he signs it, the Department will begin to distribute Dinars.

The Department proposed that investors who wish to pick up their Dinars may make arrangements with the Dept. to travel to Boise to recieve their Dinars. Dinars not picked up will be mailed by registered mail to the investors. These two proposals must first be approved by the Judge before the Dept. can move ahead with this plan.

Due to logistical difficulties, the Dept. will not be converting the Dinars to dollars. The Dept. will deliver Dinars to all investors, and it is up to the individual investor to convert them into dollars.

Mr. Smiley bought his Dinars through the web site Dinartrade.com. The Dept spoke with the owner of Dinartrade.com, and he expressed that he is willing to repurchase the Dinars. This is one option to convert.

The Dept. cannot and does not vouch for Dinartrade.com, and makes no representation about the site's or the owner's reliability or honesty. The Dept. is not recommending that you use Dinartrade.com. On the other hand, the Dept is not recommending that you do not use Dinartrade.com.

Simply put, the Dept knows very little about Dinartrade.com and cannot make any recommendation, one way or the other, about the site or its owner.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Dinar distribution

The Receiver has been contacting investors in order to verify their claims for part of the recovery. He has imposed a deadline for response of August 7, 2009.

Thereafter, he will determine what has been claimed and prepare a Receiver's report for Judge Mitchell. We will also provide a proposed order for the judge, approving the plan for distribution. After the judge signs the order, or a revised order is he desires changes, the Receiver can begin distribution of the Dinars.

The Receiver is also exploring the feasibility of converting the Dinars back to dollars, and distributing dollars to investors who choose that option. A consideration for the Receiver is that dumping many Dinars into the market all at once may depress the price and lower their value. Whether this will occur has not yet been determined. However, if this is a risk, the Receiver may have to control the release rate in order not to artificially lower the value of the Dinars.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Smiley released

At the hearing regarding Mr. Smiley's continuing incarceration, Judge Mitchell ruled that Mr. Smiley will be released from jail at 10:00 AM on Thursday, 2 July 2009.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Status 30 June 2009

All the Dinars were recovered. The Department finished counting the Dinars, and arrived at essentially the same total. The Dinars were examined by the Secret Service again, and, again were confirmed to have all the anti-counterfeiting measures expected in currency.
The Dinars have been packaged, sealed and are stored in a bank vault.

Proof of Claim. The Department is going through the process of confirming how much each investor invested with Jack Smiley. The Department cannot simply accept a person's unsupported claim, and will require some proof or evidence of the amount actually invested.

Send documentation of your investment to the Department. Smiley's record keeping was inaccurate and unclear, and in many cases it is difficult to tell how much the investor actually gave to Smiley. The Joint Venture agreements alone probably cannot support a claim, for various reasons. The best evidence will be cancelled checks, or wire transfer receipts. Bank statements or records that show withdrawals of money in amounts and on dates that coincide with the Joint Venture Agreements are also helpful. Although many investors have already provided this documentation, the verification process make take a few weeks. The Department is preparing to notify investors who need to provide more documentation.

You can fax your material (208) 332-8016.

The process. Once the Department is satisfied that investors have verified their claims, it can determine how the Dinars will be distributed. That is, if 80% of the money was recovered, for example, investors will get 80% of their investment. The Department must provide the Judge with an accounting showing how it plans to distribute the Dinars, and cannot distribute them until the Judge signs off on the plan. The judge will oversee the entire distribution process.

The Department's interest. Some investors appear to believe Smiley's absurd claim that the State will keep some of the Dinars. The Department is not legally entitled to keep any of the money. The Department is entitled to be paid the penalty Smiley was ordered to pay, but the Department is not going to take the penalty from the Dinars unless all investors recover 100% of their investment and some surplus exists. This does not seem likely. Again, remember that the Judge will be overseeing the distribution.

Jack Smiley's status. A telephonic status conference has been set for Tuesday, 30 June 2009 with Judge Mitchell regarding Smiley's ongoing incarceration. Now that the Dinars have been recovered, ongoing incarceration cannot have a coercive effect, and civil contempt is over. It is likely that Smiley will be released from jail very soon.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Dinars recovered

The Department of Finance has recovered most if not all of the missing Dinars. The Department will count them and do an accounting to determine how many were recovered, and will begin the process of making restitution to investors.

The Department will initially determine the appropriate ratio of distribution. That is, depending on how many Dinars are actually present, a given investor might get 50 cents on the dollar, or 90 cents, or whatever. Once the ratio is determined, investors who choose to receive Dinars will get their Dinars. The remaining Dinars will be converted to cash, if that is possible, and the money will be distributed in the same ratio.

This process will be overseen and approved by Judge Mitchell, and may take some weeks to accomplish.

This blog will be updated as new information is available.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Contempt

The hearing on Mr. Smiley's Motion for Relief was held on Monday, June 15, 2009. Mr. Smiley testified briefly, and I cross examined him briefly as well.

After considering the arguments of the parties, and after having dome independent research, Judge Mitchell denied the motion for relief and returned Mr. Smiley to custody for an indefinite period.

Mr. Smiley remains in jail, and will until either he produces the Dinars, or until he convinces the court at a later time that continued incarceration will not have a coercive effect.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Motion for relief

Mr. Smiley's lawyer has filed a Motion for Relief. This motion is currently set for hearing at 4:00 PM on Monday June 15, 2009 at the Kootenai County Courthouse, Court Room 8 in front of Judge Mitchell. The Department will appear and resist this motion.

In the motion, Mr. Smiley's lawyer is suggesting that Mr. Smiley will never reveal where he has hidden the Dinars. Therefore, since more jail time will not cause him to reveal the location of the Dinars, he should be let out of jail.

The concept is that jail will coerce Mr. Smiley into producing the Dinars. If the judge decides that Mr. Smiley cannot be coerced by incarceration, continued incarceration then becomes punitive, and at that stage Mr. Smiley is entitled to the various protections provided by the criminal contempt rules.

Incarceration to coerce behavior is civil contempt; incarceration to punish is criminal contempt. Different rules apply to the two types. Civil contempt has fewer protections because the person can get out of jail at will just by obeying the Court's order.

Monday, April 13, 2009

April 13, 2009

There has been little change. Mr. Smiley still refuses to obey the judge's order, and is still in the Kootenai County Jail.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Update 2 Feb 09

Jack Smiley remains in the Kootenai County jail, where he has been since October, 2008. He continues refuse to surrender the Dinars.

The Department has contacted 182 storage facilities in North Idaho and Northeast Washington to inquire whether they are storing anything for Mr. Smiley. No storage facility, other than one were aware of and have searched, had any record relating to Mr. Smiley.

The Department continues its efforts to locate the Dinars.