Late Aug. 1, the FBI arrested the co-owner of a Camarillo-based international gold-trading company he operated with his estranged wife. FBI agents took James Fayed into custody in his home in a remote area of Ventura County. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller declined to specifiy the charges, though Fayed's wife was stabbed to death July 28 in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit filed in Ventura County seeks to seize as much as $5 million it claims are on account with Camarillo-based e-Bullion, the business co-owned by Pamela Fayed. Fayed, who lived in Camarillo, was killed in a Century City parking garage.

The suit does not accuse e-Bullion of any wrongdoing. It alleges another company, Invest Manager, ran a Ponzi scheme and that the proceeds of that scheme might be stored in e-Bullion accounts.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything untoward about e-Bullion,” said Steven Renshaw, the Ventura attorney handling the case, adding that he has had “some success” in getting the company to cooperate with his inquiries.

Officials have made no arrests in Fayed’s slaying, but say they are looking for slender man in his 20s who fled the scene of the stabbing in a red sport-utility vehicle.

Fayed and her estranged husband, James Fayed, owned e-Bullion and another business, Goldfinger Bullion & Coin. Invest Manager is not believed to have any relation to either company.

The Fayeds were in the midst of a contentious divorce. Pamela Fayed alleged that her estranged husband denied her access to their business records. She was fighting to have the businesses taken from his control for the remainder of the divorce.

A hearing on that matter was slated for the day she was killed.
James Fayed’s attorney, Mark Werksman, did not return calls seeking comment; calls to both of the Fayeds’ businesses went unanswered. Neither company lists a street address.

The lawsuit against Invest Manger alleges the firm promised investors a 12 percent weekly return. The company delivered those returns for a time, building confidence among investors, the lawsuit alleges. But then Invest Manager stopped making payments and was not heard from again.

The people behind Invest Manger haven’t been identified, nor has its headquarters or place of incorporation, Renshaw said. There has been no reply to the complaint, which was filed May 20.

After a legal notice of the suit runs for at least a month, a judge can rule on how much the plaintiffs are owed and give them the green light to purse the funds, which the plaintiffs believe are held in e-Bullion accounts.