Where Frank and York were concerned, it was a complete tragedy.
Ma Cheng and the other two men refused to admit that they had cheated Frank and the rest of their things. They insisted that the items were still in the car, and explained that they had been with Li Du and the rest ever since they got to Flagstaff.
Frank and the rest could not produce any incriminatory evidence. When they had claimed the stored goods from the First Financial Bank, the trio had not gone along with them. Therefore, the bank was not able to testify for them.
They had a forged registration document with them, but as it did not contain any details of the trio, it could not serve as evidence of the three men's deception.
Ma Cheng insisted that he was connected with the two of them. While it was apparent they were fraudsters, as they had not caused actual damages to the treasure hunters, they were not liable according to US laws.