(Part 2 of 2)

One of the main reasons for the government’s inability to return forgotten money to the people it belongs to, they say, is that they can’t be tracked down. The problem is, who would think people like Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Angelina Jolie ,Marlon Brando, Keanu Reeves, ZsaZsa Gabor and Gerri Halliwell could be difficult to find? Their names and the names of several other famous people are just a few of the names in the Cali missing money database and yet they have not been contacted by the employees in the California Unclaimed Property Division. They’re all owed checks for forgotten funds by Cali ranging in amount from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This proves once again Cali state officials’ interest in keeping this money 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 assets, stating that the state was not trying hard enough to locate the rightful owners and has temporarily halted the ability of the state to seize it until a proper method of reuniting it with the rightful owners was adopted.

The total dollar amount for these funds in CA averages five billion dollars annually – imagine the amount of interest that generates for the state! Bill Palmer, an attorney in Sacramento who has battled in many cases involving California unclaimed funds, sad that the state’s department was created to be a lost and found for California residents. Instead, it was turned into a profit making ‘business’ in the past few years.

The hold on the seizure of property by California has now been lifted and the new CA State Controller, John Chiang, is making greater efforts in the form of widespread reforms in improving how his office deals with California missing money. There is still a dire need though for Californians and residents of all other states across the U.S. to be informed about the presence of these funds and on how to do a thorough search for them.

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Claiming Your ‘Free Money’ – msnbc.com
WLWT.com There are billions of dollars out there, just waiting to be claimed, and some of it may have your name on it. Unclaimed funds — money that’s been left in an account and forgotten about — could mean big money …

Father and son accused of fleecing people trying to retrieve property from state – Sacramento Bee
A Sacramento-area man and his son have been accused of stealing more than $1.6 million from people who hired them to retrieve stocks and other assets from the state’s unclaimed property program. Thomas Rodine …

$1.2 million lottery ticket purchased in Scottsdale still unclaimed – Examiner
Scottsdale, Ariz – Someone in Scottsdale could be holding a lottery ticket worth $1.2 million. The winning lottery ticket for the drawing on July 7, was purchased from the Albertson’s on Hayden and Indian Bend roads …

Bulgarian 3.4 million euro lottery goes unclaimed
Lottery operators in Bulgaria say the winner of a record 3.4 million euro rollover prize has not come forward to claim the money.