What ever became of those Japanese bond smugglers?

[pscot]

Last June, this story was a 9-days-wonder. Then it disappeared completely.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a62_boqkurbI

"Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear."

Subsequent news reports indicated the 2 men were released within 24 hours or their arrest when a lawyer provided some kind of surety bond. Then,yesterday this story surfaced:


http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-100-billion-in-bearer-bonds.html

Saturday, September 19, 2009

"Another $100 Billion in Bearer Bonds Seized on Italian Border?"
by Sonia Sirletti and Elisa Martinuzzi
"The U.S. Secret Service is examining more than $100 billion of U.S. government bonds confiscated in northern Italy in August, just two months after $134 billion of allegedly fake securities were seized in a nearby town. The Secret Service is analyzing whether the bonds taken in August may be counterfeit, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Rome. Italy's financial police in Varese, north of Milan, arrested two individuals carrying the securities in a briefcase, according to a person involved in the case.
The two men currently are in custody as prosecutors in the town of Busto Arsizio carry out their investigation, the person said. The seized notes include securities with face values of $500 million and $1 billion, Italian daily MF reported today, without saying where it got the information. "There must be a well-organized group behind these alleged crimes," Fabio Polimeni, a Milan lawyer specializing in counterfeiting cases, said.

Taken together, these two events are passing strange. The cloak of silence that has descended over the first, makes them even more interesting.

[CoffeeCat]

1. Were these bearer bonds...

...smuggled in coffee grounds? If so, I believe Victor Maitlin had something to do with this!

Sorry. I know I'm not helping. I just assume that it's the usual junta robbing us blind and that there's
little we can do. So, I make jokes.

[pscot]

2. The author of the Bloomberg article

speculates that perhaps the US has been secretly issuing bonds to the Japanese in an effort to hide the actual amount of debt we've been issuing. The Japanese are now trying to get out from under before the buck collapses. But who knows?

[Captain Hilts]

3. This is some weird stuff. THANKS!!

[kickysnana]

4. US suing them to launder money buy back our debt perhaps? n/t

[lurky]

5. These numbers are so big, it would have to

involve governments. Even a huge bank like Citi or BofA would have trouble coming up with that kind of cash, and definitely wouldn't be able to do it without being noticed. It's also too big to be a drug kingpin. Pablo Escobar at the height of his power was "only" worth $25 billion, and that was his total amassed wealth.

I don't buy the counterfeit story either. Think about it: How could you possibly pass a counterfeit bond for $100 billion dollars? Just walk into a bank in Zurich? And suppose you did have a bank willing to work with you, don't you think they would make a few calls before they handed you $100 billion dollars? Please.

[druidity33]

6. why not a diplomat pouch?

If these were real, and being transferred from country to country, surely they would use an unassailable mode of transport. These seem portable enough that you could fit them in a slim case.

The first two men "disappeared"?

weird shit...

K&R.

[CanonRay]

7. I thought I read somewhere the bonds were fraudulent?

Or did I dream that.

[kickysnana]

8. No dream.

They claimed they were fraudulent so they gave them back their bonds and sent them on their way. It is a puzzle.

[pscot]

9. There are versions to suit every taste

I've read that they were genuine and also that they were clumsy forgeries. Bottom line is, there has been no official explanation.