U.S. government must prove ownership of gold coins, judge rules

A gloved hand displays the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin, at the United States Mint in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009. The mint used digital technology to produce the newly issued coin which is a modern version of the original 1907 Double Eagle $20 gold piece designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and very similar to the coins minted in 1993 (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (AP)

The U.S. government improperly confiscated 10 of the world’s most valuable gold coins from a Philadelphia family and must prove its claim that they were stolen, a federal judge ruled.

The government seized the 1933 Double Eagle coins after the family of Roy Langbord brought them to the U.S. Mint in 2005 for authentication. U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis ruled July 28 that the U.S. violated Langbord’s constitutional rights.

“My clients are pleased that their rights and position have been vindicated,” Barry Berke, a lawyer for Langbord with New York-based Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, said in an interview. “They look forward to the return of their coins.”

A single 1933 Double Eagle sold at auction in 2002 for $6.6 million. The government minted almost 500,000 of the $20 coins in 1933, the year President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the U.S. off the gold standard. None of that year’s Double Eagles entered circulation and all were ordered melted down, according to the U.S. Mint.

The Mint has until Sept. 30 to return the 10 coins or file a forfeiture action, Berke said. Langbord found the coins in a safety deposit box in 2004 and concluded that they belonged to a late family member, Israel Switt, according to the ruling.

The family gave the Double Eagles to Daniel Shaver, chief counsel for the U.S. Mint, saying they wanted to sell the coins and split the proceeds with the government. The government concluded that the coins were authentic and government property, Davis wrote.

“The U.S. Mint has no intention of seeking forfeiture of 10 Double Eagles because they already are, and always have been, property belonging to the U.S.,” Shaver wrote to Langbord in a 2005 letter, according to the ruling. Double Eagles minted before 1933 are widely available.

U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White declined to comment.

It’s “a mystery” exactly how Switt, a jewelry-store owner, obtained the coins, “but there are a variety of ways that these coins could have left the Mint lawfully,” Berke said.

Switt may have received them in a legal exchange with the U.S. Mint office in Philadelphia, the lawyer said. He cited the testimony of a late coin collector, and said he had proof that the cashier at the Philadelphia Mint had possession of 1933 Double Eagles.

Under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, the government must prove that it owns any property seized from a citizen, according to Berke. Should the Mint pursue forfeiture, Langbord will seek a jury trial before Davis, Berke said.

The case is Langbord v. U.S. Department of Treasury, 06-cv- 5315, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).