Entire article had to be included. I don't think non-members of the Times can read the articles. Khomar, if it bugs you, feel free to take it down.
Mafia blamed for $134bn fake Treasury bills
By FT reporters
Published: June 18 2009 19:52 | Last updated: June 18 2009 19:52
One summer afternoon, two “Japanese” men in their 50s on a slow train from Italy to Switzerland said they had nothing to declare at the frontier point of Chiasso.
But in a false bottom of one of their suitcases, Italian customs officers and ministry of finance police discovered a staggering $134bn (€97bn, £82bn) in US Treasury bills.
Whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declare, is unclear but Italian and US secret services working together soon concluded that the bills and accompanying bank documents were most probably counterfeit, the latest handiwork of the Italian Mafia.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500m, and 10 “Kennedy” bonds, used as intergovernment payments, of $1bn each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
“They are all fraudulent, it’s obvious. We don’t even have paper securities outstanding for that value,’’ said Mckayla Braden, senior adviser for public affairs at the Bureau of Public Debt at the US Treasury department. “This type of scam has been going on for years.’’
The Treasury has not issued physical Treasury bonds since the 1980s – they are handled electronically – though they still issue savings bonds in paper format.
In Washington a US Secret Service official said the agency, which is working with the Italian authorities, believed the bonds were fake.
Officials in Tokyo were nonplussed. Takeshi Akamatsu, a Japanese foreign ministry press secretary, said Italian authorities had confirmed that two men carrying Japanese passports had been questioned in the bond case but Tokyo had not been informed of their names or whereabouts.
“We don’t know where they are now,” Mr Akamatsu said.
Italian officials, while pointing out that hauls of counterfeit money and Treasury bills were not unusual, were stunned by the amount involved. Investigators are looking into the origin and destination of the fakes.
Italian prosecutors revealed last month that they had cracked a $1bn bond scam run by the Sicilian Mafia, with the alleged aid of corrupt officials in Venezuela’s central bank. Twenty people were arrested in four countries.
The fake bonds were to have been used as collateral to open credit lines with banks, Reuters news agency reported. The Venezuelan central bank denied the accusations.
By FT staff in Rome, Tokyo, New York and Washington
I think they hit the "What it means" part right on the head. What they and so many others completely miss when referring to people like us as conspiracy theorists and whatnot is that when we, at least reasonable questioners of truth, get behind a certain story it is because it seems to be the most plausible at the time. It may end up being wrong, but so what, as long as you are willing to admit that it is wrong and update your view. Which is exactly what Denninger did and they at iTulip missed apparently. I believe that people like us are more intelligent for coming to a wrong initial conclusion because we are willing to assimilate new information and come up with new thoughts as events transpire and new evidence is presented. In today's lexicon that would most likely be considered some kind of flip-flopping when in fact it is actually the act of learning.
Is a small child an idiot for putting a square peg in a round hole because it makes sense only to find out that it doesn't fit? No, the child is only stupid if it continues to put the square peg in the round hole after finding out that it doesn't work. The world is awash with square peg round hole-ers simply because they have been taught that truth is relative and failure is unacceptable.
Good article... and a very good question for people: where is the media in all of this? I mean seriously, a free press would be all over this story as it is massively huge, but for some reason, they are strangely silent. Could it be that the press isn't as free as we think? ;-)
They are too busy carrying out their part in Operation Ajax Part Deux in Iran and calling 9/11 truthers white supremacist nazis. As you can see that is all more important than worrying about something as minor as the further undermining of our economy.
Now, this sounds like complete bunk to me. This part I found particularly "interesting".
And, in this epic battle between the Vatican backed Obama and the Rothschild backed Federal Reserve, we can plainly see that the 1849 secret agreements between these two monstrous powers that have enslaved the West is nearing its catastrophic end, and with no clear winner to be seen but an entire World being destroyed in its titanic aftermath.
How can Obama be backed by the Vatican if he is pro-choice? How can the Rothschilds be against Obama when most of his cabinet are former bankers or financial investors? This sounds like a pile of hideous and ugly lies in an attempt to paint Obama in a heroic light and steal the spotlight from the real movement to take down the Fed.
what it is, is the realization that the "conspiracy culture" or whatever stupid names they would wish to call us have become so big that they have to invent stories for us that we might find plausible by throwing out names that catch our attention. Quite sad really.
another article from the telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5586543/Is-this-the-death-o...
ciao.
An Article from the European version of the Financial Times
Entire article had to be included. I don't think non-members of the Times can read the articles. Khomar, if it bugs you, feel free to take it down.
Mafia blamed for $134bn fake Treasury bills
By FT reporters
Published: June 18 2009 19:52 | Last updated: June 18 2009 19:52
One summer afternoon, two “Japanese” men in their 50s on a slow train from Italy to Switzerland said they had nothing to declare at the frontier point of Chiasso.
But in a false bottom of one of their suitcases, Italian customs officers and ministry of finance police discovered a staggering $134bn (€97bn, £82bn) in US Treasury bills.
Whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declare, is unclear but Italian and US secret services working together soon concluded that the bills and accompanying bank documents were most probably counterfeit, the latest handiwork of the Italian Mafia.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500m, and 10 “Kennedy” bonds, used as intergovernment payments, of $1bn each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
“They are all fraudulent, it’s obvious. We don’t even have paper securities outstanding for that value,’’ said Mckayla Braden, senior adviser for public affairs at the Bureau of Public Debt at the US Treasury department. “This type of scam has been going on for years.’’
The Treasury has not issued physical Treasury bonds since the 1980s – they are handled electronically – though they still issue savings bonds in paper format.
In Washington a US Secret Service official said the agency, which is working with the Italian authorities, believed the bonds were fake.
Officials in Tokyo were nonplussed. Takeshi Akamatsu, a Japanese foreign ministry press secretary, said Italian authorities had confirmed that two men carrying Japanese passports had been questioned in the bond case but Tokyo had not been informed of their names or whereabouts.
“We don’t know where they are now,” Mr Akamatsu said.
Italian officials, while pointing out that hauls of counterfeit money and Treasury bills were not unusual, were stunned by the amount involved. Investigators are looking into the origin and destination of the fakes.
Italian prosecutors revealed last month that they had cracked a $1bn bond scam run by the Sicilian Mafia, with the alleged aid of corrupt officials in Venezuela’s central bank. Twenty people were arrested in four countries.
The fake bonds were to have been used as collateral to open credit lines with banks, Reuters news agency reported. The Venezuelan central bank denied the accusations.
By FT staff in Rome, Tokyo, New York and Washington
ciao.
iTulip's take on the matter
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=105054#post105054
ciao.
I think they hit the "What it
I think they hit the "What it means" part right on the head. What they and so many others completely miss when referring to people like us as conspiracy theorists and whatnot is that when we, at least reasonable questioners of truth, get behind a certain story it is because it seems to be the most plausible at the time. It may end up being wrong, but so what, as long as you are willing to admit that it is wrong and update your view. Which is exactly what Denninger did and they at iTulip missed apparently. I believe that people like us are more intelligent for coming to a wrong initial conclusion because we are willing to assimilate new information and come up with new thoughts as events transpire and new evidence is presented. In today's lexicon that would most likely be considered some kind of flip-flopping when in fact it is actually the act of learning.
Is a small child an idiot for putting a square peg in a round hole because it makes sense only to find out that it doesn't fit? No, the child is only stupid if it continues to put the square peg in the round hole after finding out that it doesn't work. The world is awash with square peg round hole-ers simply because they have been taught that truth is relative and failure is unacceptable.
WELL SAID!
.
Very astute Stick...we are programmed to be so f$cking scared to be wrong in this culture.
no kidding!!!
.
A post discussing the irregularities of this whole thing and postulating that this was a set-up to further shake the ground the dollar sits on.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/143462-strange-inconsistencies-in-the-13...
the latest
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a62_boqkurbI
ciao.
Good article... and a very good question for people: where is the media in all of this? I mean seriously, a free press would be all over this story as it is massively huge, but for some reason, they are strangely silent. Could it be that the press isn't as free as we think? ;-)
They are too busy carrying out their part in Operation Ajax Part Deux in Iran and calling 9/11 truthers white supremacist nazis. As you can see that is all more important than worrying about something as minor as the further undermining of our economy.
Yeah, the elections in Iran
stink of the CIA. Still, I won't shed any tears if the theocracy falls.
ciao.
Another interesting tidbit
Not really bonds, but related to this whole mess, there is this article:
Obama Takes on the Federal Reserve
Now, this sounds like complete bunk to me. This part I found particularly "interesting".
How can Obama be backed by the Vatican if he is pro-choice? How can the Rothschilds be against Obama when most of his cabinet are former bankers or financial investors? This sounds like a pile of hideous and ugly lies in an attempt to paint Obama in a heroic light and steal the spotlight from the real movement to take down the Fed.
what it is, is the realization that the "conspiracy culture" or whatever stupid names they would wish to call us have become so big that they have to invent stories for us that we might find plausible by throwing out names that catch our attention. Quite sad really.
First part is relevant
http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm
ciao.
More on the subject:
http://www.doomdaily.com/2009/1345-billion-bonds-in-italy-geithner-in-it...
LIVE and let live.
the plot thickens
The Saga Of The Bearer Bonds
http://market-ticker.org/archives/1119-The-Saga-Of-The-Bearer-Bonds.html
Excellent article. Can you say, "Audit the Fed"?
That new PR lady better get her ass in gear because the Fed surely needs some positive spin right about now