Given our long history of proactively working with federal authorities, Sterling Currency Group was completely surprised by the federal complaint and continues to strongly deny any allegations of wrong doing.
Sterling has been in business as a currency exchange company since 2004 and in that time has conducted millions of exchange service transactions with nearly 200,000 customers, maintaining an "A" rating with the Better Business Bureau from 2004 until we ceased operations involuntarily on June 3rd, 2015.
Sterling has spent millions of dollars and logged thousands of hours to ensure complete compliance with statutes and regulations in all 50 states as well as with the federal government. Additionally, the company has also proactively sought independent audits and inspections since 2007. It has requested and participated in meetings with officials from multiple federal agencies to ensure all actions of the company are above reproach.
The company has been registered with the United States Department of the Treasury, through the Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) bureau, as a Money Service Business since 2006, and thus has participated in on-site examinations by FinCEN on several occasions.
Despite the statements in the civil complaint, every single business related to the owners of Sterling Currency Group is legitimate and is compliant with all state and federal laws. We believe the record will show that representations made about internal communications between employees at Sterling in the civil complaint filed by the federal government are inaccurate and taken out of context.
Sterling has repeatedly asked the government to return customer funds they seized on June 3, 2015 so that Sterling can satisfy the numerous outstanding orders that were in progress on June 3, 2015. To date, the government has refused to allow Sterling to complete or refund those outstanding orders.
As Sterling continues to work toward a resolution related to government actions that debilitated Sterling’s ability to operate, Sterling remains committed to taking care of its customers and satisfying outstanding orders as of June 3, 2015. We look forward to a positive resolution and are doing everything we can to expedite a satisfactory conclusion. Sterling will continue to update as more information becomes available. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.
Sterling Currency Group, LLC’s Response to United States Attorney’s Charges
February 22, 2016
Statement by Sterling Currency Group, LLC regarding charges brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
In June 2015, the United States Attorney's office for the Northern District of Georgia obtained search warrants and filed a civil forfeiture complaint as part of an investigation into Sterling and the Iraqi Dinar industry. Since then, Sterling provided evidence it believes demonstrated to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that the central factual allegations in the civil forfeiture complaint were inaccurate, and in some instances flatly false. Despite that, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has brought criminal charges against Sterling’s two owners and its chief operating officer.
From Sterling's perspective, these charges are without any merit. Sterling, a lawful business which sold a lawful product, was owned and operated by law-abiding and conscientious individuals, two of whom served extensively in the United States Armed Forces. These executives worked hard to ensure Sterling complied with all state and federal laws and regulations. This included investing enormous resources into its compliance program and maintaining extensive legal and other professional counsel to ensure it was fully compliant with all applicable laws.
Sterling and the named individuals strongly deny the U.S. Attorney’s charges and look forward to vigorously defending themselves throughout this process and at trial.
Sterling Currency Group knows you care how your information is used, and we appreciate your trust that we will use it carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy.
By visiting us and placing an order, you are accepting the privacy policy described below.
1. What Personal Information Do We Collect?
- Information You Provide. We receive and store information you enter (for example, when you search for or buy a product, or when you supply information such as your address, phone number or email address). We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, improving our website, and communicating with you.
- Cookies. Like many websites, we use "cookies." Cookies are small programs that we transfer to your hard drive that allow us to recognize you and to provide you with a customized shopping experience. If you do not want us to use cookies, you can easily disable them by going to the toolbar of your web browser and clicking on the “help” button. Follow the instructions that will prevent the browser from accepting cookies, or set the browser to inform you when you receive a new cookie. In addition, you may visit this and other websites anonymously through the use of utilities provided by other private companies.
- Other Information: Every computer has an IP (Internet Protocol) address. IP addresses of computers used to visit this site are noted. In addition, we automatically collect other information such as email addresses, browser types, operating systems, and the URL addresses of sites clicked to and from this site.
2. How Do We Use Your Information?
- Special Offers. We or our affiliates may send you special offers and notices from time to time.
- Law Enforcement. If we receive a lawful court order to release account or other personal information then we will comply with the law. We will also release information when necessary to protect the life, safety or property of others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
3. How Do We Protect the Security of Your Information?
- We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
- We use encryption to protect your information contained in our customer list.
- We use a firewall to protect against unlawful intrusion.
- We limit access to your information on a “need to know” basis.
- It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.
4. Children
We do not sell products or services to children. If you are under 18, you may use this site only with involvement of a parent or guardian.
5. Other Websites
Various websites may be linked to from this site (i.e.; Better Business Bureau, CBI, etc). If you link to another site, your privacy depends on the policy of that site. We strongly urge you to check their privacy policy. Not all sites guarantee that they will not share your personally identifiable information with others. You may also wish to consult privacy guidelines such as those recommended by the Online Privacy Alliance (www.privacyalliance.org).
6. Contact Us
If you would like to learn more about our privacy policy you may contact us at (888) 346-2771. We reserve the right to modify this policy in the future.