Finally, after almost 5 years of fighting the money laundering case, a huge part of the Coye estate has been handed back to Melonie Coye and her mother Marlene. That decision came this morning out of the court room of Justice Sonya Young.
Almost 2 months ago, Melonie Coye, and her late father, Michael Coye, were fully exonerated by the Court of Appeal of the charge of money laundering. The court ordered that their money, 1.557 million dollars, needed to be handed back to them. A month later, the Supreme Court unfroze their bank accounts, but the Panamanian Company, Internet Experts SA managed to get an interim injunction in the Supreme Court which blocked them. So, for that entire time, all the money which should have been returned, was once again locked up.
That's because Internet Experts SA is claiming that the Coyes owe them 4.8 million US dollars, and they brought a private lawsuit against the family in 2010. So, when their attorney, Lisa Shoman, heard that the court was releasing everything back to them, she got an interim injunction granted.
After about 4 weeks of deliberation Justice Young considered arguments from Shoman and the Coye family's attorney, Arthur Saldivar, and at the end she refused Shoman's application to keep the funds frozen. In delivering her judgement, the judge proclaimed that at this stage, the case from Internet Experts SA resembled a fishing expedition, in which the court was being asked to unfairly lock up the Coye finances while the Panamanian company goes looking for where their missing money is. That, she said, cannot be allowed by the court, and she discharged all injunctions against the Coyes.
It's an important win for Melonie and her mother, Marlene, because though they won the Appeal, their millions still weren't given back. Now they have that money and we got a reaction from them outside of court:
Daniel Ortiz
"So you guys will get to access your money today right?"
Melonie Coye, Assets Unfrozen
"Yes I hope so. Either today or if not, early next week. We just want it to be finally over."
Reporter
"How has it been all this time?"
Melonie Coye
"It's been hard, it's been rough, it's been a long journey and I am very sick this week with the diabetes. I am not feeling too well, but I'm hanging in there."
Daniel Ortiz
"The court has made some pronounced declarations, the Judge called it a fishing expedition trying to get this injunction continued against your client. What's your reaction to her judgment?"
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for the Coyes
"I am very much pleased that the Honorable justice was able to look into the matter and bring back the decision that she has brought. I believe it was very detailed and a very comprehensive expose of what the law requires in these instances, so in that regard yes I am very much pleased. I don't think that there is much left to be said after you've listen and heard what she had to say. I take no particular pleasure in the fact that a person has died throughout this entire proceedings and nothing can bring back that life, so I am just kind of happy for my clients at the moment that we were able to get this victory, it's an important one."
Our understanding is that the $1.557 million that the Central Bank was holding on to, must now be given back. Their bank accounts, which are rumored to hold some 600 thousand dollars, have been released. But, they aren't out of the woods yet. They still have to fight Internet Experts in a full court hearing, and if they win that case, they still have to challenge the Income Tax Department which took 3.21 million dollars for arrears which they supposedly did not pay.
Email
Print