In 1980, Franklin started his own gold and
silver business in Memphis, and he was more than displease with
the fiat currency system we have here in America that holds our
economy in its iron grip. Within a couple of years, he started his
own warehouse bank, such banks being advocated at the time by John
Grandbouche and others at the Denver office of the National
Commodity & Barter Association. But, law enforcement had
an interest in stopping these challengers to our monetary system
and acted accordingly.
In January, 1990, Franklin, his wife, Susan, and 24 others were
arrested pursuant to a federal
indictment
returned by a Memphis grand jury. That indictment contained 53
counts and the major count charged a conspiracy to defraud the
IRS. All defendants plead not guilty, but 9 changed their pleas to
guilty before trial, leaving 17 to go to trial.
Trial of this case involving 17 defendants started on February 26,
1991, and the prosecution offered the testimony of more than 100
witnesses over the next 4 months. The defendants were seated at 3
tables in the courtroom according to where their names were on the
indictment. Since Franklin was the lead defendant, I was the first
to examine any government witness, followed by Ed Chandler, who
represented Franklin's wife, and then Jeff Dickstein, who
represented Michael Osborne. We conducted most of the defense
examination, unless a given witness related exclusively to a
particular defendant. The majority of the defense was presented by
Franklin and that presentation lasted a week. Franklin's defense
called Dr. Edwin Vieira, John Pleasant, John Exter (former Federal
Reserve official), among others. Most defendants did not present
any defense, relying exclusively on Franklin's.
After about 100 trial days, the jury got the case and on July 9,
1991, it returned not guilty verdicts against all defendants who
went to trial. On July 25, 1991, the district judge entered an
order
dismissing
this case against Franklin, and
the
others who went to trial.
Since then, Franklin has moved east of Memphis to a farm at
Dogwood Mudhole, a very rural part of southern Tennessee south of
the Natchez Trace. Franklin's story about this trial is published
on the Net in several places, one
here
and another
here,
among others. Franklin has been ever since a gold and silver
dealer and monthly publishes a very interesting newsletter, the
MoneyChanger. He
continues to be concerned about the
course and direction
of this country.
If you are in the market for some specie, give him a call.
