(Part 2 of 2)

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability give back forgotten cash to its owners, they claim, is that they can’t be tracked down. The problem is, would would ever think that people like Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Angelina Jolie ,Marlon Brando, Keanu Reeves, ZsaZsa Gabor and Gerri Halliwell would be hard to locate? Those names and the names of a number of other famous people are just a few of the names in the Cali missing money list but they have not heard from the officials in the California Unclaimed Money Division. They are all owed checks for unclaimed money by Cali ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This just proves Cali state employees’ interest in keeping this cash in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficits for as long as they possibly can. In fact, there was recently a ruling by a federal judge on CA abandoned money, saying that the state wasn’t making enough of an effort to return it to its rightful owners and for a while halted the ability of the state to take and hold it until a proper method of returning it to the rightful owners was enacted.

The total amount of unclaimed money in CA averages five billion dollars annually – imagine how much interest this generates for the state! Bill Palmer, an attorney in Sacramento who has represented a number of cases involving California unclaimed funds, sad that the state’s department was intended to be a lost and found for California residents. Instead, it has been turned into a profit earning ‘business’ in recent years.

The hold on the seizure of property by California has now been removed and the new California State Controller, John Chiang, is making greater efforts in the form of sweeping changes in improving how his office deals with California unclaimed money. There’s still a dire need though for residents of California and the other 49 states across the U.S. to learn about the presence of these monies and on how to do a thorough search for them and take back what belongs to them.

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California holds a garage sale — with cars autographed by Schwarzenegger (Los Angeles Times)
In the latest attempt to raise money, the state is selling thousands of surplus items on EBay, Craigslist and in a warehouse auction. Does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have a deal for you.

More people find unclaimed money – Aurora Advocate
Need money? Check the state’s Division of Unclaimed Funds. Hundreds of Ohioans have and found money they did not know they had coming to them. The site is aptly titled “Treasure Hunt” and has paid more claims and a higher total dollar amount in …

State Owes On Unclaimed Funds – WBNS 10TV Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge in Columbus has ruled that Ohio owes six percent interest on any unclaimed funds it holds until the owner comes forward. This week’s decision from Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye is retroactive to Aug. 4 …

Feds sue to recover cash sent to dead veteran (Lansing State Journal)
DETROIT The federal government says it mistakenly gave more than $50,000 to a dead Detroit man. Now it wants the money back. The government recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, seeking to have the state of Michigan turn over the money. James Sampson died in 1995, but a monthly payment from the Department of Veterans Affairs continued to go into his bank account for more than six …

How did the Metro Gang Strike Force lose its way? Lawmakers hope to find answers (Pioneer Press)
When a state report said members of the Metro Gang Strike Force seized money and property from people never accused of a crime — and then took the property for personal use — it struck a familiar chord with law professor Joseph Daly.