Prosecutors say car seen at site of woman's stabbing was rented with husband's credit card

He ordered the defendant released on $500,000 bond but gave prosecutors until Wednesday to appeal his decision.

Fayed, dressed in a brown T-shirt and plaid pajama-style pants, sat expressionless as the prosecutor argued his case, recounting a meeting this summer between Fayed and his wife, who were in the midst of a bitter divorce.

Aveis said Fayed told his wife "I could have you killed and my hands would be clean." He said the defendant then made a motion as if he were wiping his hands, according to an account Pamela Fayed gave a friend.

In addition to the credit card, authorities seized $60,000, some of it sealed in plastic wrap, and $3 million in gold bullion at Fayed's house, Aveis said. Twenty-five weapons including assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were also seized, he said.

Though Fayed has not been charged in his wife's slaying, Aveis said he had a motive to have her killed -- "so that she could not testify against him" in the criminal case at issue in Monday's hearing.

Los Angeles Police Capt. Bill Eaton said Monday that Fayed has not been named as a suspect in his wife's death.

Fayed's attorney, Mark Werksman, told Zarefsky that the prosecutor's claims were based on third-hand information from a rookie FBI agent who had only recently been briefed on the case.

"The government has rushed in here with uncorroborated, unsubstantiated allegations of a murder," he said.

Pamela Fayed, 45, was attacked by a man with a knife on July 28 in the parking garage of a Century City high-rise, investigators said. The perpetrator was "lying in wait," Aveis said.

The prosecutor said Pamela and James Fayed and their attorneys were scheduled to meet at the office complex to discuss legal matters.

According to the LAPD, several witnesses said they saw a red SUV speed away from the floor of the parking garage where Pamela Fayed was slain. Surveillance cameras captured the SUV with a man at the wheel leaving the parking lot and driving down the street at high speed moments after the killing, police said.

Los Angeles police detectives investigating Pamela Fayed's slaying have been looking for possible links between her death and the couple's jointly owned companies, Goldfinger Coin and Bullion Sales and an associated Internet firm, e-Bullion, law enforcement sources have said.

Police searched James Fayed's home looking for evidence in the homicide investigation last week.

Aveis characterized Fayed's business operations during 2005 and 2006 as Ponzi schemes in which individuals invested up to $20 million.

James Fayed filed for divorce in October, and the couple had since fought bitterly over control of the companies.

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