Posted on 06/11/2009 2:07:42 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
Bonds worth US$ 134.5 billion are seized. This is the largest financial smuggling case in history. But are they real? Concern over ‘funny money’ or counterfeit securities is spreading in Asia. The international press is silent.
Milan (AsiaNews) – Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. They include 249 US Federal Reserve bonds worth US$ 500 million each, plus ten Kennedy bonds and other US government securities worth a billion dollar each.
Italian authorities have not yet determined whether they are real or fake, but if they are real the attempt to take them into Switzerland would be the largest financial smuggling operation in history; if they are fake, the matter would be even more mind-boggling because the quality of the counterfeit work is such that the fake bonds are undistinguishable from the real ones.
What caught the policemen’s attention were the billion dollar securities. Such a large denomination is not available in regular financial and banking markets. Only states handle such amounts of money.
The question now is who could or would counterfeit or smuggle these non-negotiable bonds.
In order to stop money laundering Italian law sets a ceiling of 10,000 euros per person for importing or exporting money without declaring it. The penalty for violating the law is 40 per cent of the money seized.
If the certificates were real, for Italy it would be like hitting the jackpot. The fine alone would amount to US$ 38 billion, five times the estimated cost of rebuilding quake-devastated Abruzzi region. It would help Italy’s eliminate its public deficit.
If the certificates are fakes the two Japanese nationals could get a very lengthy jail sentence for fraud.
As soon as the seizure was made the US Embassy in Rome was informed. Italian and US secret services were called in to assist the Italian financial police.
Some important international financial newspapers had already reported on the existence of ‘funny money’ circulating on parallel, i.e. unofficial, financial markets.
For AsiaNews a few points need considering:
1. When it comes to Italy the world press has tended to focus on Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi’s personal problems rather than on stories like the bonds smuggling affair which has been front page on Italian newspapers.
2. The fear of counterfeit bonds and securities has spread across Asia with the result that real securities are also considered with suspicion.
3. During the Second World War several countries at war printed and put in circulation perfectly counterfeit enemy money. It is also historically established that some central banks, like the Bank of Italy 65 years ago, issued the same securities twice (identical registered number and code). This way they could print more money with legal tender than they officially declared. The main difference though is that 65 years ago the world was involved in a bloody war, which is not the case today.
yet
Are they fake fakes, or “real fakes,” made by our own officially sanctioned counterfeiters?
Was sad to see that Drudge didn’t pick this story up. Here’s another article on this posted last night:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2269335/posts
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1114-Smuggling-Or-Counterfeit-Printing.html
good analysis here on this issue
If they are “real fakes,” why they didn’t simply throw them into a couple of diplomatic pouches is a mystery.
Something tells me that we are hearing very little of the truth of this story.
Denninger wields his usual sharp axe. He begins below with “Ok.”
Ok, this was rumored several days ago, but now I can find actual news reports - at least, outside the US:
Milan (AsiaNews) – Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. They include 249 US Federal Reserve bonds worth US$ 500 million each, plus ten Kennedy bonds and other US government securities worth a billion dollar each.
Those sound like Bearer Bonds - at least the Kennedy ones do.
We no longer issue those (nor does pretty much anyone else) for obvious reasons - they’re essentially money and can be had in VERY large size, making them great vehicles for various illegal enterprises.
But folks: This is $134.5 billion dollars worth.
If they’re real, what government (the only entity that would have such a cache) is trying to unload them?
If they’re fake, this is arguably the biggest counterfeiting operation ever, by a factor of many times. I’ve seen news about various counterfeiting operations over the years that have made me chuckle, but this one, if that’s what it is, is absolutely jaw-dropping.
The cute part of this is that if the certificates are real Italy just got a hell of a bonanza - their money laundering laws provide for a statutory 40% penalty for failure to declare instruments and cash in excess of $10,000 Euros, which means they’d garner a close-to-$40 billion dollar windfall.
That ought to help their budget problems!
Notice, by the way, that the US Media has totally ignored this story - even though the securities in question are allegedly US instruments.
Gee, I wonder why? Might the authorities know they’re real and be just a wee bit nervous that disclosure of a sovereign attempting to covertly dump nearly $140 billion in debt could cause a wee bit of panic, given that we’re running nearly $200 billion a month in deficits?
Inquiring minds want to know what’s really going on here.
If it's actually a genuine story, I can't think of any legitimate reason why it's not being picked up by US media.
I’m more and more inclined to think they are the real deal.
First, why bother smuggling that large an amount of counterfeits? Esp knowing that out of all the countries in the world that would know if they were good or fake, Switzerland is the country that would know.
I mean if you were smuggling fakes, you’d smuggle them in to South Africa or something.
If you are smuggling the real thing, you smuggle them into Switzerland, where you effectively have a world wide discreet market for them.
Fake but accurate.
If it's real, I can't wait to hear the tap dance, especially from the NYTs, about how and why they'd bury a $134 billion story.
Bosh. One phonecall from Secretary Gibbs and this story vanishes.
Bingo. If they were legit, and owned/controlled by any semi-lucid nation/state, they would not have had to go to such amateurish lengths to move them.
This reeks of Not Ready for Prime Time Hoods.
Exactly. Plus, I read early this morning (when the story appeared briefly and then disappeared) that 5 of the bonds were in denominations made only for states.
I found an Italian language report, with pictures.
“Federal Reserve Bonds”?
I’m less inclined - because bearer bonds in the US have not been issued for more than 30 years - 1982 for US Treasury debt and 1983 for a lot of muni/state debt.
But put that aside: the amount is very fishy. Why would anyone want to pack around all that value (if this were real paper) in ONE shipment? Anyone who has handled bearer bonds knows that you have ALL the face value of the bond at risk in the physical existence and possession of that bond.
If I were a nation-state, I would have moved them in a diplo pouch. No inspection, no taxation, no nothing.
If I were an individual in possession of this amount of bearer bond paper, I would never, ever have moved this much paper in ONE bag, on ONE person, in ONE shipment. Never. Start with the fact that the ONE person (even two people) you’ve entrusted with this amount of wealth could simply ..... walk off. Unless you’re holding their families hostage, that amount of negotiable money in their possession is enough to buy off anyone.
If I possessed $135B in bearer bonds, it wouldn’t have been moved in shipments of more than about $1B at a time in the open like this, the mules would have been paid quite well - and I’d still be holding their families hostage.
Since none of this is in evidence (yet) I increasingly have to go with the “fake paper” explanation. I could be completely wrong on this, but the mechanics, dates, human nature, etc — just don’t add up here.
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