Attempt to smuggle 134 billion in US bonds in a suitcase?

... AsiaNews doesn't have to be a conspiracy theory website for them to sensationalize something they don't really understand.

The italians simply released the facts of what they seized - as in, what was written on the face of those documents. The secret service would be called in any of these cases. Just because they were called doesn't mean the thing is real.

Moreover, if you've been to italy, you'd know that the financial police's usual task is checking receipts and stamping forms at the border; they probably aren't well versed (on the street level) on the different US treasury instruments (or whether the fed issue bonds). So when they see the big number, they freaked out, and called their superiors. See? no conspiracy or ill-intent needed.

The only mildly interesting question would be what the japs were really up to with this; God knows they can't borrow against it or anything as you've suggested. It doesn't work like that. Those bonds will never clear upon deposit (because... there's no such thing). As of now they probably aren't in a whole lot of trouble (I don't believe there's a law against forging a non-existent bond and not use it). But the minute they try to deposit the thing, they are screwed.

Quote from Max Respect:

Random Crapital,

I looked at photos of known counterfeit securities - they don't look like the ones in the Italian photo.

Furthermore, the Asia news article of June 8, 4 days after the arrests, states,
"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."

And " the counterfeit work is such that the fake bonds are undistinguishable from the real ones."

It also notes that as of 4 days after the arrest, Italian police, with the help of US Secret Service, were STILL trying to determine if they were real or fake.

Maybe AsiaNews and Japan Today and the Kyodo News Service are really just "conspiracy theory" sites. Maybe not.
But I sure didn't see any tin foil on those Italian police hats...

And if AsiaNews is legit, and their article is correct, then there ARE "real" bonds of that denomination, which would, like the Japanese passports, take only minutes to determine if they were genuine. It's been over a week now. If the bonds were fake, THEY WOULD KNOW IT, and it would have been announced by now.

The Italians get to keep 40% or about $53 Billion, so if the bonds are real, they're not gonna sweep this under the rug.
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Quote from local_crusher:


Don't you think it would be cleared out by now if it was that simple: "There is no 1bln kennedy bond"
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Given that it's the Italians, I wouldn't count on i...
:)
 
Or... it's just really low on everyone's to-do list. I mean... the secret service is in hurry to deal with some non-existent bonds.

Moreover, you would imagine verifying that it's real is even faster. There can't be that many of these (if any existed at all) and it's pretty big news if there exists previous unknown bonds with huge denomination and are bear bonds in nature. Such things have not existed in a very very very long time.

Quote from local_crusher:



Don't you think it would be cleared out by now if it was that simple: "There is no 1bln kennedy bond"
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English version on Speigel's article:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,630158,00.html


SPIEGEL ONLINE

06/12/2009 04:42 PMWINDFALL FOR ITALY?

Customs Finds $134 Billion in a Suitcase

It is either the biggest smuggling operation in history -- or a fraud of equally impressive proportions. Italian customs officials stopped two men at the Swiss border carrying bonds worth $134 billion (95.8 billion euros).

Italian customs officers on the Swiss border often stop smugglers -- but not of this scale. Two Japanese citizens have been detained by Italian police in Chiasso on the Swiss-Italian border after being found with $134 billion of US bonds hidden in the base of their suitcase, according to a press statement by the Italian Guardia di Finanza.

The two men, reported to be more than 50 years old, were traveling by train from Italy to Switzerland on June 3. Financial police at a control on the border found the documents tucked inside a closed section at the bottom of their suitcase, separate from their personal items. According to their statement, the men's luggage included 249 government bonds worth $500 million and 10 so-called Kennedy bonds, each worth a billion dollars.

But details of the case remain unclear: The Japanese embassy in Rome confirmed the arrest of the two men but the news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday that it was not yet established whether they were Japanese citizens.

It yet to be seen whether this is the biggest smuggling scandal in history -- or a massive fraud. Italian officials said they were still checking the authenticity of the bonds.

But should the bonds, or at least some of them, turn out to be real, the men will face a significant penalty. In Europe it is illegal to transport more than €10,000 across borders without notifying customs.

Meanwhile, if they turn out to be authentic, Italy is set for a windfall. According to Italian law, the state could fine the men 40 percent of the seized money. Italy's mountain of public debt, which is at 105 percent of GDP, could shrink.

And although details of the case are still murky, the Italian media is already mulling how the windfall would be best spent. Aside from shrinking the national debt, there are suggestions the funds could help rebuild the earthquake-wrecked Abruzzo region.

jas -- with wire reports

Bloomberg picked up the story as well...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ayy1QKcwcGN0
 
Quote from Misthos:

English version on Speigel's article:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,630158,00.html
Meanwhile, if they turn out to be authentic, Italy is set for a windfall. According to Italian law, the state could fine the men 40 percent of the seized money. Italy's mountain of public debt, which is at 105 percent of GDP, could shrink.
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WTF is up with this sloppy reporting? The main absurdities of this story have already been pointed out by others, but I'll add one more: Bearer bonds haven't been issued by the U.S. since 1982.
There are so few left in circulation, a valid bearer bond is now tougher to come by than a lapdance w/happy ending in Mecca.

$134B worth of U.S. bearer bonds (Over 6% of the entire U.S. federal defecit in 1982) <b>don't even exist</b>- let alone all in one place.
 
Moreover, EVEN IF it were real, which it isn't, there's little chance that these two random guys are the actual owners of these bonds. In that case, the Italians aren't terribly likely to actually get their cut.

This is one of those things that seem outrageous at first, but all parties involved don't really care because everyone knows how this'll turn out - a hoax. They still need to do the paper work, but none are too excited.

Quote from Rearden Metal:

WTF is up with this sloppy reporting? The main absurdities of this story have already been pointed out by others, but I'll add one more: Bearer bonds haven't been issued by the U.S. since 1982.
There are so few left in circulation, a valid bearer bond is now tougher to come by than a lapdance w/happy ending in Mecca.

$134B worth of U.S. bearer bonds (Over 6% of the entire U.S. federal defecit in 1982) <b>don't even exist</b>- let alone all in one place.
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