US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

[FRED]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

"AsiaNews does not know to what extent Turner’s revelations can be held as credible..."

We do. They are not credible.

[cjppjc]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I knew it.



Hal Turner eh......

[flintlock]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Everything suggests that the American bonds seized at Chiasso are real

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=e...&theme=&size=A

Uh oh, here we go again.

[prezone]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Everything suggests that the American bonds seized at Chiasso are real

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=e...&theme=&size=A

Official U.S. sources continue to say they are fakes, but there is no news that American experts have inspected them in person. Arrested for another matter, the director of a U.S. radio who says the bonds are real and Japan was trying to sell in Switzerland, not trusting the ability of the United States to honour its debt.


Milan (AsiaNews) – Four weeks have passed since American bonds were confiscated from two Japanese men who were travelling on a direct train to Chiasso, Switzerland, and while there has been clarification of some - very few -points, Italian authorities have remained silent on the rest of the episode.

In addition, a strange coincidence in the timing of the arrest of a director of an internet radio who had made revelations regarding the incident ,increases the already strong oddities surrounding the case. This added to the revaluation of the fact that among the evidence seized there were "Kennedy Bonds", all points toward the authenticity of the items seized by the Guardia di Finanza (GdF) in early June.

The major English-speaking newspapers ignored the story for a couple of weeks. They only started to report on it after the Bloomberg agency carried a story on 18 / 6, in which a spokesman for the Treasury, Meyerhardt, declared that the bonds, based on photos available on the Internet, were "clearly false." The same day, the Financial Times (FT) published an article whose title laid the blame for the (alleged) infringement at the feet of the Italian Mafia, despite the fact that the article failed to make even one possible connection with the episode in Chiasso. Nevertheless, the version of events as reported in FT was taken up by others as being "appropriate" (given that it is a very common cliché about Italy and it is a sequester that took place in Italy) and in the end "colourful." It’s a pity that it goes against all logic: that the Mafia tried to pass unnoticed in its attempt to dump fake bonds amounting to 134.5 billion dollars and moreover were to "stung" a mere step from their gaol, is not very credible.


Most recently last week, 25 / 6, the New York Times reported on the story in particular, the allegations of CIA spokesman, Darrin Blackford: the U.S. Secret Service carried out inspections, as required by the Italian judiciary, and found that they were fictitious financial instruments, never issued by the “U.S. government”. It is not clear, however, how the checks mentioned by Blackford were carried out and whether they were also are carried out via internet. In fact according to official Italian sources the Commission of American experts, expected in Italy, have yet to arrive. Furthermore, the bonds were accompanied by a recent and original bank record. It is therefore unclear how the U.S. authorities can declare fake documentation that does not originate from the Fed or the U.S. Department of Treasury.


On the contrary, claims in support of the bond’s authenticity were made 20 / 6 on the Turner Radio Network (TRN), an independent radio station broadcast via Internet. On that date in a massive exposure, TRN stated that the two Japanese men arrested by the Guardia di Finanza (GdF) and then released in Ponte Chiasso were employees of the Japanese Ministry for Treasury. AsiaNews had also received similar reports: one of the two Japanese arrested in Chiasso and then released is Tuneo Yamauchi, is the brother of Toshiro Muto, until recently vice governor of the Bank of Japan. On its website, the creator and presenter of the Radio, Hal Turner, had also claimed that his sources had revealed that the Italian authorities believe the evidence to be authentic and that the two Japanese officials are from the Japanese Ministry for Finance. They were supposed to bring the bonds to Switzerland because the Japanese government had apparently lost confidence in U.S. ability to repay its debt. Japanese financial authorities therefore were trying to sell a part of the securities in their possession through parallel channels ahead of an imminent financial disaster, thanks to the anonymity which, Turner said, is guaranteed by the laws of Switzerland.


AsiaNews does not know to what extent Turner’s revelations can be held as credible, given that in this case too, it is difficult to believe that $ 134.5 billion would pass unnoticed anywhere in the world. It seems far more logical to assume that the bonds, if authentic, were directed to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, BIS, the central bank of central banks ahead of the issuance of securities in a new supranational currency. Turner had in any event added that as evidence to support his revelations he would have provided the serial numbers of the seized bonds. Before he could do so, however, was imprisoned. Hal Turner is the journalist who long ago first broke the news of a secret plan to replace the dollar, after a severe financial crisis, with a common North American currency, the Amero. In a dramatic phone call from inside the prison in which he is detained pending trial, relayed via internet, Hal Turner claims that his arrest is political and it is in relation to the securities seized in Chiasso, because the authorities are terrified by his revelations of the bonds’ authenticity. Of course, the allegations made against him have to nothing to do with the story and thus an already intricate story becomes ever more complex. Turner maintains that he did not personally formulate the disclosure for which he has been imprisoned. Although it was clearly his responsibility to remain vigilant, it is also true that blogs from around the world and the U.S. themselves are full of threats and provocations. The coincidental timing, the unusual diligence and the details of his arrest arouse suspicions about the true motives of the American federal police. Indeed, this very arrest suggests that the evidence seized from GdF are truly authentic.


One more element in favour of the bond’s authenticity is found in the securities, which in the June 4 statement, the GdF termed "Kennedy Bonds” with photos provided. These photos reveal that the securities under discussion are not bonds but Treasury Notes, because they are securities that can be immediately exchanged for their worth in goods or services and because they are devoid of interest coupons. One side carries a reproduction of the image of the American president, the reverse side that of a spaceship. From confidential, usually well-informed sources, AsiaNews has learned that this type of paper money was issued less than ten years ago (in 1998), although it is difficult to know whether those seized in Chiasso are authentic. But the fact that the release of this particular State Treasury was not completely in the public domain tends to exclude the possibility of counterfeiting. It highly unreasonable to suppose that a forger would reproduce a State Treasury not commonly in circulation and of which there is no public knowledge. For this reason, it can be concluded that the 124.5 billion dollars divided in 249 bonds of 500 million each are authentic. These titles, although referred to as "Federal Reserve Notes" are actually bonds, because they accrue interest and are redeemable at maturity. But one question remains unsolved regarding them. It is somewhat hard to understand why the securities, which were from the outset indistinguishable from the original to the GdF, all have their coupons. Any ordinary investor, even a state, would have cashed in the interest coupon every year, so as not to lose purchasing power.

[D-Mack]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

On june 15 we wrote what follows. Today it was esentially confirmed. Just a scam, a crude and audacious one. Perpetrators are probably in jail, and shall be for some time.

no crime, no jail

More intriguing is a Japanese media report this week that the alleged Japanese bond-smugglers have been released as they “broke no laws”, according to the Mainichi Shimbun, which sent a reporter to the Italian town of Chiasso where the men were arrested by Italian police (hat tip, Clusterstock’s Joe Weisenthal)

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009...e-or-are-they/

[Southernguy]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

On june 15 we wrote what follows. Today it was esentially confirmed. Just a scam, a crude and audacious one. Perpetrators are probably in jail, and shall be for some time.

In my opinion these are fake bonds.
The scam (I went through a similar one years ago) goes as that: One people find a bank which is in a disposition to take as a deposit the assets. As it is a deposit for which the bank is only responsible as a holder of same, no problem. Then they ask the bank to issue some kind of certificate that so and so has deposited in the institution such amount of assets.
With that "certificate" or letter or whatsoever, the scammers go to other bank, probably contact a "friendly" officer and ask a loan guarateed by the huge assets deposited.
Say a "modest" loan....20 million dollars (after all the guarantee is huge)
They probably need a "friendly" officer both in the first and also the second banks.
The scam I knew of involved people assuring they had property papers of land in the amazonia valued at 4 billion usd.
The first officer (I witnessed) politely told them they were not interested in holding the deposit.
End of story.

[Shakespear]

Wow,this can be played from many angles. But in the end it will be blamed on the North Koreans, and who can prove otherwise

How about consider this book which poses some tough question and includes documentation !!!

http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Warriors-.../dp/1859845428

[D-Mack]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I remember the story about the Supernotes from a respected German paper

CIA

On January 7, 2007, the Sunday edition of the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) challenged the official American statement and the accusations on North Korea. Their research suggested that the real source of the superdollars is a secret printing facility close to Washington, D.C., and owned by the CIA. According to FAZ the forged dollars are used to finance secret CIA operations. Printing the money directly would then evade any congressional oversight of these operations. Presently, there has not been an official response by the U.S. government to these accusations.[26]

More doubt concerning the nature of these supernotes arose on January 10, 2008, in the McClatchy Washington Bureau. The article makes mention of the increasing doubt of testimonies and sources, and of the CIA's involvement. Klaus Bender, an author of works on counterfeiting, claims that the notes are of such high quality that they could only be produced by a government agency such as the CIA. The article also goes on to say that the United States is no longer explicitly accusing the North Korean government of producing supernotes.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdollar

Do we know more about the quality?

Is the paper real or is everything fake and other questions come to my mind ?

[FRED]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Rise of the Demagogues: The case of the $134.5 billion in fake U.S. bonds

June 18, 2009, iTulip

What happened: In a time when public trust in government and media are at an all time low, conspiracy theories flourish, creating a broad platform for demagoguery. The recent story of the $134.5 billion in fake U.S. bonds is a case in point.

In News of the Weird: June 10, 2009 we were the first U.S. website to cover the case of the $134.5 billion in fake U.S. government bonds after one of our readers located the story on a German site. We posted the first video about it the same day, June 10. Other sites picked it up the next day and put various conspiracy spins to it. Since then the story has been picked up by hundreds of sites around the world. Conspiracy theories quickly took the limelight. More …

[metalman]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Don't believe everything. If that is the case why was reported so late? And who are these Japanese?

maybe it took them a long time to be sure.

[makimanos]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Don't believe everything. If that is the case why was reported so late? And who are these Japanese?

[Tybee Island]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

The absence of hard questions makes this a very soft reply for the US via the Bureau of Public Debt. What wasn't said is more troubling and suggests that far more is a foot here.

For example:
Did you or anyone from your office personally inspect the bonds in question?

Was the Secret Service dispatched to Italy to investigate the bonds? If so when? If not, why not?

Why is it that an event that occurred two weeks ago on June 3, are you only now refuting the the authenticity of these bonds?

Can you provide a full accounting of all such bonds issued historically, if so, then do so, if not, why not?

Will you state for the record that no such bonds have ever been issued by any past administration whether recorded for the public record or not?

Why aren't the supposed "counterfeiters" still in custody?

Why were their identities never reported? What are their names? Nationalities? Current Whereabouts? Pictures of their passports?

Why aren't they being prosecuted? Isn't counterfeiting US Bonds still illegal? Or is that those caught in the month of June get a free "get out of jail card," and are able to slip into the night whithout any trace of their whereabouts?

[D-Mack]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

US Governement says bonds siezed in ITaly are fakes.

.....

Meyerhardt said Treasury records show an estimated $105.4 million in bearer bonds have yet to be surrendered. Most matured more than five years ago, he said. The Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982, Meyerhardt said.
Had the notes been genuine, the pair would have been the U.S. government’s fourth-biggest creditor, ahead of the U.K. with $128 billion of U.S. debt and just behind Russia, which is owed $138 billion.
According to the Italian authorities, the seized notes included 249 securities with a face value of $500 million each and 10 additional bonds with a value of more than $1 billion, as well as securities purported to be “Kennedy” bonds. Meyerhardt said no such securities exist.
Nowadays, Treasury securities are issued electronically. The U.S. started converting all of its marketable debt from paper to electronic form in the 1980s.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=adc1HD7mWY4A

Is it true that in 1985 they also issued them?

(there was an exception carved out for Treasury instruments issued to non-US residents in 1985 - a time of high deficits)
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/23...instream-press

[seanm123]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

US Governement says bonds siezed in ITaly are fakes.

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland are fake, a Treasury spokesman said.
“They’re clearly fakes,” Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington, said yesterday. “That’s beyond the fact that the face value is far beyond what’s out there.”
Italy’s financial police last week said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate the seized bonds, with a face value of $134 billion. Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Guardia di Finanza in Como, Italy, said the securities, seized in Chiasso, Italy, were probably forgeries.
Meyerhardt said Treasury records show an estimated $105.4 million in bearer bonds have yet to be surrendered. Most matured more than five years ago, he said. The Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982, Meyerhardt said.
Had the notes been genuine, the pair would have been the U.S. government’s fourth-biggest creditor, ahead of the U.K. with $128 billion of U.S. debt and just behind Russia, which is owed $138 billion.
According to the Italian authorities, the seized notes included 249 securities with a face value of $500 million each and 10 additional bonds with a value of more than $1 billion, as well as securities purported to be “Kennedy” bonds. Meyerhardt said no such securities exist.
Nowadays, Treasury securities are issued electronically. The U.S. started converting all of its marketable debt from paper to electronic form in the 1980s.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=adc1HD7mWY4A

[deepSearch]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

It is big story, no matter which way (fake or real), but it is "too big a story to tell" so either will never reach the main media or it will once they sanitize it... unless they can't, then silence will keep telling it.
To me this only shows how tight MSM is controlled. There is not the slightless leak in main papers. Tough eh?