Man throws away $500,000 worth of gold in revenge on ex-wife
A US man angry at his ex-wife over a bitter divorce has reportedly converted 25 years of the couple's life savings into gold before throwing it into a garbage dumpster.
Earlier this year, a judge ordered 52-year-old Earl Ray Jones to pay $3000 a month to his wife.
His next step was to pillage the couple's retirement account, convert it into 22 pounds (nearly 10kg) worth of gold and silver bars, and then toss it all into a dumpster behind a motel he had been living in temporarily.
He then told the judge he had no money to give to his ex-wife, saying he his initial request to withdraw the funds in cash from the bank were denied.
“If that would have been an option, I would have been walking around giving people $100 bills” he said.
No witnesses have been able to confirm the dumping nor have any garbage men discovered the stash.
“I didn’t have any drivers walking off the job with a smile” said garbage truck manager Rick DiPaiva.
However, bank records supplied by Jones show the money was converted to gold through a precious metals dealer.
Jones's wife's lawyer, John-Paul Lyle, has rated the case as one of the most bizarre things he has ever dealt with.
“We say that when people are divorcing, they enter a state of temporary insanity,” he said.
“But on a scale of 1 to 10, this is my 10.”
