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$6 Trillion In Fake US Treasury Bonds Seized In Switzerland

Posted by timothy on from the that's-ok-the-official-ones-are-fake-too dept.

ackthpt writes "If you're going to steal, steal big, right? Italian anti-mafia prosecutors have announced the seizure of $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that's almost half of the U.S.'s public debt. The probe focusing upon money laundering has also include financial dealings alleged to direct money to Nigerian sources to buy plutonium. Sound like a movie plot, yet? $6 Trillion, that's a lot of lettuce."

6 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Please clue me in. by grub · · Score: 4, Interesting


    The U.S. embassy in Rome has examined the securities dated 1934, which had a nominal value of $1 billion apiece, they said in the statement.

    I'm admittedly not a financial/bonds guy, but wouldn't $1 billion securities raise some eyebrows? In the same way that trying to pay for a Slurpee with a $1000 bill would.

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    1. Re:Please clue me in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Banks are greedy motherfuckers, too. I worked for one (big one) doing due diligence. I personally delivered files on unsavory corporate raiders who gutted many companies and left behind ecological disasters that had to be then cleaned up by the EPA on taxpayer dime. But since none of them were ever convicted of anything, the bank smiled politely and opened their accounts.

  2. Photos cast doubt on whether or not they are fake by Openstandards.net · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Zerohedge highlights interesting photos: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/why-were-trillions-fake-bonds-held-chicago-fed-crates

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  3. Never intented to be used directly. by Kaenneth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would guess the planned scam (Including the Nigerian connection) would be sending spam e-mails, etc. saying "as a nigerian prince, I inherited this billion dollar certificate. I just need a loan of $10,000 to pay for security, transport, etc. to have it redeemed, then you'll get $100,000 back..."

    The certificates themselves would never be 'redeemed' just used to bait greedy people into getting scammed.

  4. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why would it? If you photo copy some bonds, why is that news? Here, I can print up some while type this comment... where is my 15 minutes?

    Bonds are registered. It is nice having a piece of paper, but the paper is not important. Only bearer bonds are unregistered, and the US gov't hasn't use them for years. There are some old bearer bonds that were never redeemed, but the the total amount is less than $100M.

  5. Re:Wow, Zero Hedge is going full on truther there by Openstandards.net · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's what I thought. But, the more I dig on the boxes, the more historical they appear to be. Here is an interesting thread discussing them: http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=2598.0

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