Prosecutor Pleads for Custody Order of a Chinese National Involved in Gold Bar Transactions with Elderly Oregon Couple
A public prosecutor this week urgently requested a federal judge to issue a custody order for Biao Lin who is a suspect in a case involving an unsuspecting elderly Portland couple in the exchange of gold bars worth more than $3 million.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Armistead took the matter under advisement. The judge said until his ruling, Lin must remain in custody at a federal detention center in Sheridan.
Judge Describes Suspect’s Behavior as Suspicious
The judge noted that Lin stands accused of ‘direct interaction’ with alleged victims and referred to his conduct as suspicious.
Revealing new allegations against Lin, the Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin said he was involved in transactions worth more than $8 million in gold bars from victims in Idaho and the East Coast. He pleaded for Lin to remain incarcerated until he faces trial.
A Chinese citizen, Lin (27) was arrested by the FBI in Portland last month. He was accused of traveling to Portland to pick up gold bars worth more than $400,000 from an unsuspecting Portland couple aged 86 and 93.
The elderly couple listened attentively to the custody arguments at Wednesday’s hearing.
The FBI has uncovered similar cases nationwide targeting elderly people, leading to the arrest of two other people in Oregon earlier in the year.
Suspects Pose as U.S. Treasury Officials
The FBI says suspects hack into personal computers and then claim to be government officials who want to assist victims to protect their assets. They convince their victims to convert their money into gold bars for safekeeping by the U.S. Treasury and then send ‘couriers’ to collect them.
Kerin said Lin is a ‘linchpin’ within the organization, although his role was that of a courier.
Defense lawyer Shanon L. Gray argued that there was no evidence to prove that his client had personally committed fraud and requested his release to a halfway house in Portland before returning him to New York for supervision by pretrial officers.
Lin has also been identified in four other cases involving the collection of gold bars worth $585,000. The collections occurred in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, said Kerin. The pickups were made by a man fitting Lin’s description and, in a car, registered to Lin.
Investigators also suspect Lin of traveling from Atlanta to Spokane on October 3, according to an analysis of one of his cell phones.
In Spokane, he rented a car and collected gold bars from someone in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Lin then allegedly returned to Spokane airport where he made a FedEx shipment before driving south to Portland, Kerin said.
Opposing Lin’s release from custody, Kerin pointed out Lin had entered the U.S. illegally in 2019. The prosecutor said Lin could return to China to avoid prosecution, adding that the United States does not have an extradition treaty with China.