[jambutty]

Thank you for bringing this point to my attention but it is old news entwisi and was first brought to the public notice in early April. Actually I heard rumours that the FBI was investigating back in mid March. However this is the second time that the US authorities have targeted E-Gold and last time nothing happened other than a tightening of site security. They changed the way the Turing number was displayed and have recently changed it again.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=A1BF8AA32011659B0C14F6C9EB19A904 ?contentId=2886558&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Actually WillowTheWhisp you need a bit more than an email address to open an account with E-Gold. You need:
An account name.
A user name
Real name and address.
Email address
Phone number
Password of your choice.

But the crucial point is that you don’t need to PROVE YOUR IDENTITY.

The latest information is that E-Gold’s owners have been indicted with aiding money laundering and a few dozen e-currency exchange sites have been forced to stop operating. The E-Gold on-line payment processing operation has not, so far, been questioned.

E-Gold itself continues as normal, so far, but it has got more difficult to turn E-Gold into hard cash. Many sites that have used E-Gold to receive money from and pay their members are switching to E-Bullion. But they too will be investigated by the FBI when they have finished with E-Gold. Their operation is broadly similar and no PROOF OF IDENTITY is needed to open an account.

I think that E-Gold will survive as an on-line payment processor but they will have to have each account verified with PROOF OF IDENTITY or the account will be closed. What will happen to the money in the account that is closed is up for debate. Acceptable proof of identity will be:
A government issued photo ID (passport or driving license)
A very recent (under 2 months old) utility bill showing the name and address of the account holder. (Phone, electric, gas, water, rent, council tax bill or bank statement)
There will probably be a document to sign as well.

That will be a major operation in that there are several million accounts. My account number is a six figure number starting with 7. I recently came across an account with a seven figure account number starting with 43 so that makes it approximately 3.5 million accounts.

You cannot fund your own E-Gold account in any other way than someone sending you some money from their own E-Gold account or via a bona fide e-currency broker.
You cannot take money out of your own E-Gold account other than by sending some to another E-Gold account holder. That account holder could be a bona fide e-currency exchanger or a third party Debit Card issuer.

For the most recent information have a look at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/Google Page Ranking/2007/April/07_crm_301.html

http://digitalmoneyworld.com/e-gold-hits-the-wall-government-seizes-major-agents-accounts/