Last night, 7News told you about the passing of Michael Coye, the patriarch of the Coye family, who was convicted of Money Laundering along with his daughter, Melonie.
He died on Tuesday night from a massive heart attack at the KHMH after a long battle with diabetes, and his attorneys say that his condition worsened while inside the prison. The direct result of his passing, though tragic, was that his daughter was granted bail yesterday, and she remains with the rest of the family while grieving his loss.
That process, they say, has been made more difficult to endure because they have no money to bury him, and they are hopeful that the FIU will allow them to access some money from their frozen bank accounts to deal with the expenses.
Their attorney tried today to make contact with the representatives of the FIU, and he told us this evening that it was to no avail. He explained how the Coye family's finances look currently:
Arthur Saldivar
"The passing necessitates now that the family incur the expense of finding the funds to bury Mr. Michael Coye. From 3 year prior since 2009 actually all funds belonging to the Coye family that was at the bank has been frozen by the FIU. Now that the matter had gone to the Supreme Court and there was finality there in relation to the conviction and sentence that is now being appealed, there us now ability to apply to the court to have funds be released. In light of the circumstance now that is basically revealed that there is really no case and bail has been granted on that basis. It was believed that the FIU and its director would have been so moved to appreciate that there was some responsibility on their part now to ensure that these people (the Coye family) could access at least the minimum resources to allow for the proper burial of Michael Coye."
"This blockade that they have put in place to prevent the Coye family form surviving - these people are now on the brink of starvation where it relates to having the basics in their own homes because they cannot find work. Mrs. Marlene Coye could not find work for the years that their assets were frozen; she could not continue her flower shop business that she had because again, this entire thing causes such a cloud and a shadow over the entire family."
We spoke to Marilyn Williams, the Director of the FIU, this evening, and she told us that our request for information was the first time that she has heard of any plea to allow access to funds from the frozen bank accounts.
She added that Arthur Saldivar should be very well informed that the Director of the FIU has no power to grant such access, and that an application to the court is necessary for this issue to even be considered.
Finally, when we asked her about why the attorney for the FIU did not object to bail yesterday at Melonie Coye's hearing, she told us that it was simply because the judges of the Court of Appeal had already indicated in Michael Coye's case that there is sufficient grounds to grant bail. Therefore, the FIU did not see any reason to object.
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