[alokin]

Neue Zuericher Zeitung is mainstream press:
http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/panorama/italienische_spekulationen_um_us-anleihen-schmuggel_1.2748124.html

I think this is the most interesting part:
Das umso mehr, als sowohl die geradezu unglaublich riesige Geldsumme wie auch deren Stückelung gegen die Möglichkeit einer privaten Operation etwa zwecks Kapitalflucht sprechen dürften. So wurde in einigen Internet-Medien bereits kühn darüber gemutmasst, ob sich hinter der Geschichte, die an das Drehbuch eines James-Bond-Films erinnert, der Versuch eines Staates, etwa Chinas oder Japans, verbergen könnte, heimlich amerikanische Anleihen loszuwerden.

Bei diesem Fall könnte es sich aber auch um den grossangelegten (und in der Geschichte beileibe nicht ersten) Versuch handeln, das internationale Finanzsystem zu destabilisieren. Bei solchen Spekulationen wird auch immer wieder Nordkorea genannt. Dabei ist auch die Frage aufgeworfen worden, ob die zwei Schmuggler tatsächlich Japaner ware

in short; it cannot be a private thing as the sum is too high and the sum on each of this paper (don't know economish) is too high. It may be China or Japan who are trying to get rid of US bonds, or it may be the attempt to destabilize the economy. Some speculations include North Korea. It is not sure weather the smugglers are Japanese at all.

[dorlomin]

The Times of London has some coverage on this.

Blimey I cant pass a £50 note round many local pubs as they wont accept it. Who the frack takes a $1 billion 'bond' and swaps it for what?

[deMolay]

Let's assume for now they are fake. Imagine the US currency getting 134.5B shot in the arm out of no where. The machinery required to make a good fake even is not something that the ordinary garage type counterfeiter has access to, this has to be a move by a rogue state to destabilize US currency faster than is currently happening. One of the ways to destroy a Nation is to destroy it's currency. If you look at the Financial Fallout from 9/11. Osama won the War on Terror.

[mattduke]

Strange inconsistencies in the story.

* $134.5B is precisely what remains of the TARP funds
* Counterfeiter capable of indistinguishable copies get's date wrong?

link

[deMolay]

I think it has to be one of the RIC countries or their proxies. Big things are happening in that triangle. One more reason why the Fed should be audited. Ron Paul is right.

[smallpoxgirl]

* Counterfeiter capable of indistinguishable copies get's date wrong?

I've gotta think that someone looking to collect a $50 billion fine has a pretty strong incentive not to be able to distinguish them as forgeries.

[shakespear1]

And they could not afford to charter a Lear Jet to fly directly to Switzerland? Hide the stuff in the plane in such a way that one would need to rip it appart to find !!!

This smells like a cheap or dumb operation perhaps coming from North Korea.

If they are fake, then you would not worry about loosing them. Hence use many "mules" to transfer this paper to Switzerland. So UNLESS, someone has inside information detecting these people would be nearly impossible.

Something sounds very stupid in all of this if they are the REAL Bonds!!!!! If the real the movers were a government than they would have many ways to move this (diplomatic pouchs, Security Services, etc.).

[alokin]

Chiasso is small and unless these Japanese are dressed like tourists, they are suspicious. There are not many Japanese around.

[miraculix]

This story is completely mind boggling.

More so the apparent MSM black out. Here a clip from bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=ayy1QKcwcGN0

This is Glenn Beck's take on it: http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/tag/134-billion/

Anyone pls throw me a bone here. What does it mean?!?!?

[MD]

try checking "View new posts" before starting new threads. there has been an active thread on this topic, two pages worth, same title, it even has a fresh post from not long ago.

[miraculix]

I lookerd for it to no avail...

mea culpa

[deMolay]

I still think it is a Government either involved in Counterfeiting or dumping US Dollars. The technology to print money is not cheap or easily accessible. And if its destination was Switzerland, those guys are hard to fool about fake money.

[deMolay]

This story still has legs. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 2_boqkurbI

[ColossalContrarian]

From the article above:

"The bust could be a boon for Italy. If the securities are found to be genuine, the smugglers could be fined 40 percent of the total value for attempting to take them out of the country. Not a bad payday for a government grappling with a widening budget deficit and rebuilding the town of L’Aquila, which was destroyed by an earthquake in April. "

If Italy can prove these are legit they just hit the jackpot!

[ColossalContrarian]

http://peakoil.com/economics-finance/it ... 53842.html

[Cid_Yama]

Seized US bonds are worth US$ 134.5 billion. The whole affair touches a number of economic and political issues. For some the resignation of Japan’s Interior minister might be related to it.

There have been new developments with regards to the story of US$ 134.5 billion in US government bonds seized by Italy’s financial police at Ponte Chiasso on the Italian-Swiss border, which AsiaNews reported four days ago. News about it initially made it to the front page of many Italian papers, but not of the international press. Since yesterday though, some reports have published by English-language news agencies. And some commentators are starting to link the story to reports in US press dating back to 30 March.

On that date the US Treasury Department announced that it had about US$ 134.5 billion left in its financial-rescue fund, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), whose purpose is to purchase assets and equity to buttress companies in trouble. The existence of such means that the Obama administration may not have to go to Congress for additional funds, something which is especially important since many lawmakers have vowed to oppose any requests for more money.

At the same time, Japan’s Kyodo news agency has reported that the resignation of Japan’s Interior Minister Kunio Hatoyama might also be related to the Ponte Chiasso affair. Officially the minister quit as a result of a row over who should head the state-owned Japan Post, but some sources have suggested that such a scenario is not very plausible since Mr Hatoyama was Prime Minister Taro Aso’s main ally in his rise to the prime minister’s office, and is especially unconvincing since the ruling coalition government has to face elections in just two weeks time. Indeed there are many reasons to connect the Ponte Chiasso incident to the minister’s resignation.

First of all, the men carrying the bonds had Japanese passports. Secondly, they were not arrested.

link

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.

link

The US would not want it known if it was paying off other nations not to take actions detrimental to the US economy. Especially if it was using funds earmarked for something else. It could also be actions taken by the Federal Reserve, without the knowledge of the US government. Definitely high level hanky-panky.

If it was actions taking place between the Central Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve that they did not want parts of their own governments to know about, would explain it not being handled through official channels using diplomatic pouches.

[vaseline2008]

So, is this the first time "they" have attempted to smuggle or is this just the tip of the iceberg? Oh BTW, just saw a news clip on World Focus (PBS), Peru "printing" and pumping out many many [counterfeit] Benjamins, Grants, and Jacksons and stimulating themselves. Seems authorities confiscated some $45 million in the 1st quarter. How much didn't they catch?

[dunewalker]

Strange inconsistencies in the story.

* $134.5B is precisely what remains of the TARP funds
* Counterfeiter capable of indistinguishable copies get's date wrong?

link

The best clue comes from a comment to the story on Matt's link:

unirealist:
"One fact you've missed. Over that weekend the G-8 Finance Ministers were meeting in Italy. Yosano (the powerful FM of Japan was there, and shortly before the bond bust occurred Yosano publicly re-affirmed the Japanese intention to continue supporting the market for US Treasuries. This statement instantly drove the 10 year bond down in yield from 3.86 to 3.80.

Suppose the bonds were a "good faith gesture" paid by the US to Japan? Japan is struggling with its own economy right now, and is desperately trying to find the funds for economic stimulus. The US would discourage Japan from selling Treasuries for that purpose, but might be willing to give it bearer bonds, which it could move to Switzerland and use as collateral for loans.

Way out there, sure. But the coincidence of the G-8 Finance Ministers meeting should not go unnoticed."

[pogoliamo]

This is the single most interesting story and until it gets "settled" it will continue to be.

One of the suspect parties here are The Fed and The US govt.

Noticed the media gives no attention to this story? A minor 125 billion here or there not worth mentioning?

Well...In the end of course the issue wil be settled in private. We wil be given the BS the securities were fake. This is the easiest... because otherwise it will become a political disaster to explain what happened. Imagine that?

[dunewalker]

The fact that there was a preliminary G-8 meeting in Italy then lends support to the bonds being genuine. Sort of Occam's Razor logic: the most reasonable explanation is usually the correct one.