$134 Billion In Seized US Bonds Are Fakes – Washington
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.
$134 Billion U.S. Bond Mystery Continues In Italy
2 Japanese Carrying $134 Billion In U.S. Bonds Detained In Italy
$134 Billion U.S. Bond Mystery Continues In Italy
National Terror Alert first reported this story via Twitter back on June 11th and finally it’s getting some press. The mystery however remains. Glenn Beck attempted to get some answers but due to the ongoing investigation no additional information is being released.
Background – According to Japan Today News, two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police on June 3rd after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, according to an Italian daily. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm the authenticity of the bonds.
2 Japanese Carrying $134 Billion In U.S. Bonds Detained In Italy
Updated Story Via Times Online
Italian prosecutors were trying to establish yesterday whether US bonds with a face value of $134 billion seized from two alleged smugglers were real or counterfeit.
The bonds were found when the two men — said to be Japanese but as yet not identified — were arrested while attempting to cross into Switzerland from Italy by train at the frontier town of Chiasso this month. Prosecutors in Como said that the two men had hidden the bonds in the false bottom of a suitcase.
Police said that Chiasso was a notorious crossing point for currency and bond smugglers but the sums involved this time were “colossal”. The amount of $134 billion would place the two travelers as the fourth most important investors in US debt, well ahead of Britain ($128.2 billion) and just behind Russia ($138.4 billion).
2 Japanese Carrying $134 Billion In U.S. Bonds Detained In Italy
June 11, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Update: June 17th: Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: Bloomberg
Update June 16th: We’ve updated this story $134 Billion U.S. Bond Mystery Continues In Italy
Update: Italy’s financial police said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland. A determination is expected within a few days.
Original Post
According to Japan Today, two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm with Italian authorities whether the two were indeed Japanese nationals and their identities.
According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that was searched by the Italian authorities June 3 when they were in Chiasso, at the border with Switzerland, about 50 kilometers north of Milan. The daily did not say on what charges they have been detained, but the two may have been detained on suspicion of attempting to take a large amount of securities out of Italy without declaring it because the paper said they had not declared the bonds.
The treasure was in the hands of two Japanese from Italy were trying to enter Switzerland. In a suitcase were 249 bonds of the ‘Federal Reserve‘ American in the nominal value of 500 million each, and 10 ‘ bond Kennedy ‘ of the nominal value of $ 1 billion each, in addition to whta is described as very original banking documentation.
Everything has been reported to have been seized and authorities are investigating the 2 as well as the authenticity of the bonds.
Very little new information has been released since we first broke this story yesterday. We’ll continue to monitor it and bring you the latest updates.
