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Both Tristin Mikazuki and sheila6225 Allen contacted me, telling me that Merlin's Investment Bank had gone under. Notably, the bank deposits for Merlin's Investment Bank were not insurable through The Rock Insurance Co.

sheila6225 also handed me a notecard press release issued by Skip Oceanlane:

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE: October 19, 2007 9:37 AM EST: - My name is Skip Oceanlane, and I have served in the capacity of Vice-President of Merlin’s Investment Bank. I wish to make a statement to customers.

As I previous stated in Tuesday’s press release, no one can make withdrawals from their accounts, and Certificate of Deposits that come due are not being paid to customers. It now appears that his avatar accounts do not have sufficient Lindens to cover any payments.

Currently, if you try to withdraw from the ATM, the amount will be deducted from your account balance, however no Lindens will be delivered to you. Certificate of Deposits that come due will not be paid and will disappear from the vault. Customers who have loan arrangements with Investor Merlin should contact me immediately, and NOT make any further payments to his avatar Investor Merlin or Bank Merlin.

In my quest to find out what happened to Investor Merlin, I have uncovered some disturbing information about him. Just before coming to Second Life, he had numerous people file complaints and lawsuits against him with the Attorney General of his home state in the United States. People complained they gave him money for items to be shipped, and they were never delivered. It appears he has done something similar to all of us here in Second Life now as well. I am continuing my real life investigation of him, and will advise you of any further developments. I will be notifying his local authorities of the outcome of everything here as well.

I have sent repeated correspondence to Investor Merlin, and have not received a reply in over 10 days. If you have lost Lindens with Investor Merlin or Bank Merlin, immediately file a report with Linden Labs. Please include the original Transaction Number, if you still have it available. Give all the information you can.

Finally, I am in the process of seizing last known assets of Investor Merlin and Bank Merlin. I was able to obtain a list of depositors from him during the last ATM transformation for unrelated advertising promotion, so if you have filed a claim, please send me a copy of that trouble ticket or abuse report, with the amount of Lindens you lost. If any stock exchange sides with us, I promise to try and refund as many Lindens to everyone in a fair manner. If you know of any investments he has, please contact me immediately so I may begin attempts to seize the assets. They are not his Lindens,..they are ours and we should get them back.

I am very sorry this has appeared to happen, and I do not know how much longer I will have access to this group after this press release. I never had access to any customers account information, nor any high access to the land group. I will try to make another statement on Sunday, as I attempt to contact Investor Merlin in real life with the information I uncovered in my real life investigation of him. Thank you, and again sorry for everything that has appeared to have happen here.

A brief conversation with Skip Oceanlane this morning revealed that nothing more was known. Investor Merlin has been unavailable for comment.