-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Free Market Guns on the Internet We commissars will tell you what you can buy and sell. NEW YORK (Bloomberg) � EBay executives have been questioned by a federal grand jury investigating whether the world's biggest Internet auction company broke any laws when it permitted gun sales on its Web site, according to court papers obtained by Bloomberg News. At least four eBay executives have testified before the grand jury since prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed the company on Jan. 29, 1999, the court papers show. Pierre Omidyar, eBay's founder, chairman and largest stockholder, testified for five hours on Aug. 3, 1999, the papers show. Omidyar told the grand jury that the San Jose, Calif.-based company believes it acted lawfully. ''In every conversation with our own outside counsel, inside counsel, ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), and other . . . law enforcement agencies, we were left with the impression that there was nothing that we were doing that was illegal,'' Omidyar testified, the documents show. No indictments have been returned, and neither prosecutors nor eBay would comment on whether the investigation has concluded. The company, the world's biggest Internet auction business, denied any wrongdoing in the court papers. On Feb. 19, 1999, three weeks after receiving a subpoena from federal prosecutors, eBay announced that it was voluntarily banning gun sales on its site. It said in a press release that online sellers cannot guarantee that buyers comply with firearms laws. In a statement Tuesday, eBay spokesman Henry Gomez said neither the company nor any employees has been named as a target of the probe. ''EBay believes it fully complied with all applicable firearms laws,'' Gomez said. EBay shares, which have lost 52% in the past year, fell $1.50, to $33, in early afternoon trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq Composite Index. An analyst said yesterday that the company's auction business is slowing down. Government subpoena Lawyers for eBay and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan submitted the court papers to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year after the company objected to a government subpoena. The papers include legal briefs, excerpts of grand jury testimony, correspondence between attorneys and other documents. The papers, dated November 1999, were spotted atop a stack of other court documents in an uncovered recycling bin by a Bloomberg reporter who was walking past it. An appeals court official said the papers should not have been discarded in the bin, which was located in a hallway in the federal courthouse in Manhattan. ''You found something that shouldn't have been where it was,'' court clerk Roseann MacKechnie said. The documents had been placed under court seal in accord with usual rules that impose secrecy on grand jury proceedings. Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, declined to comment Tuesday on the allegations in the court papers. ''We can say, however, that it is not uncommon that individuals and corporations are the subject of grand jury investigations that do not result in criminal charges being brought,'' he said. Fresh detail EBay filed public papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 30 that said a government ''inquiry'' was under way into ''possible illegal transactions in connection with our Web site.'' Those papers neither identified the agency conducting the investigation nor the matter under review. Published reports last year said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an arm of the U.S. Treasury Department, was investigating eBay. The newly obtained documents confirm that eBay was the subject of a grand jury probe into illegal gun sales and provide new details about the investigation. ''The grand jury is investigating the unlawful sale of firearms, firearms-related items, and other items advertised and sold on eBay's online auction site,'' prosecutors said in a legal brief. According to the papers, eBay officials have told prosecutors that the Web auctioneer permitted the sale of firearms only after the ATF in 1998 told two executives at a meeting in San Francisco that the sales broke no laws. The ATF had no comment. Auction Site Omidyar was ranked in September by Forbes magazine as the 51st wealthiest American, with a net worth of $4.6 billion. His lawyer, John Carroll, declined to comment. EBay provides an online auction site where sellers advertise items and buyers bid for them. The company lists about 4 million items for sale daily. Sellers pay commissions for listing items online and another fee based on the final sale price. Prosecutors said the company was the ''subject'' of the investigation, a formal designation that means its conduct is ''within the scope'' of a grand jury probe, according to the Justice Department. EBay was not considered a target, a description indicating prosecutors have ''substantial evidence'' of a crime. In addition to the January 1999 subpoena, prosecutors in June 1999 requested from eBay information on whether firearms sellers or buyers had federal firearms licenses and were 18 or older. In the papers reviewed by Bloomberg, prosecutors didn't outline their evidence against eBay. However, included in the material is the transcript of a hearing before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in October 1999 in which Assistant U.S. Attorney David Finn said that prosecutors believe ''there are extremely damaging documents out there.'' Finn, who has since left the U.S. Attorney's Office, could not be reached for comment. Court of Appeals The appeals court was called upon to rule in the investigation after eBay refused to comply with a subpoena seeking more than 650 pages of documents, including notes of the company's communications with its lawyers. Such notes are typically shielded by the attorney-client privilege of confidentiality. Prosecutors argued that eBay waived the privilege when Omidyar testified in the grand jury that eBay moved forward with gun auctions after getting approval from company lawyers, the papers show. Preska ordered eBay to comply with the subpoena. The appeals court reversed her ruling in July and ordered Preska to reconsider the case. It couldn't be determined whether she has issued a new ruling. While the appeals court decision is public and posted on a court Internet site, the opinion � recounting many details of the investigation � refers to the company as ''Doe Corp.'' http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti832.htm, Nov. 21, 2000 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
