2 Japanese carrying $134 bil worth of U.S. bonds detained in Italy

Japan Today ^ | Thursday 11th June, 06:18 AM JST | JapanToday

[SpaceBar]

Whatever the story is, this is BIG news. Expect the media to cover the latest Hollywood blockbuster or a shooting tomorrow.

[Xenophon450]

135 billion in bonds? Pshhhh, who won AMERICAN IDOL!!! AMIRITE?

[cookcounty]

Maybe they were just going to buy a loaf of bread.

Oh, that’s right, it won’t get that bad until Obama’s second term.

[fso301]

People participating in legitimate business don't have false-bottomed briefcases with $134 Billion in unregistered, untraceable monetary instruments.

Actually they do. Just look at the recent Siemens "black money" scandal.

[April Lexington]

I have to agree. Probably China wants to dump US treasuries without causing a world wide currency crises.

People sneak bonds into Switzerland to hide them. They would have to be bearer bonds or deposited into an identity secure account. Governments simply don't sneak around depositing bonds. If they want to dump the bonds, they can either swap them for something of value (like copper) or just sell them in an orderly liquidation so as not to roil the markets. They do this every day... something wrong here...

[Cyman]

Those bast&rds. I sent them out for change a week ago.........

[Big_Monkey]

"China wants to dump US treasuries without causing a world wide currency crises. "

That is the most likely scenario that I can imagine. This is a big story.

[April Lexington]

Actually they do. Just look at the recent Siemens "black money" scandal.

Agreed. But not $134 Billion!

[mike70]

Sounds like a cross between the Italian Job and Die Hard I?

[Big_Monkey]

"Actually they do. Just look at the recent Siemens "black money" scandal."

This would be a 100x bigger, at least. But, as someone else pointed out, this has Chicoms written all over it.

[cookcounty]

Soros again?

[Ken H]

No individuals could do this. So the only answer is that they are working for the Japanese government or one of the large Japanese banks.

Why would the Japanese government or a bank need to smuggle bonds? Couldn't these men have been hired by a drug cartel, for example?

Nonetheless, this is a fascinating story. There just aren't many entities around with that kind of loot. (assuming the $134B figure is accurate)

[Gene Eric]

Don Wonson

[April Lexington]

Wait... this could be a hedge fund manager ripping off its investors and doing a Madoff with the dough. Its possible. Crazy but possible.

[TheWasteLand]

If the bonds are real. They could be fake I suppose - although would someone think they could get away with faking $134 billion in bonds? Unlikely.

[ccmay]

This is an astounding amount of money. Very few people have this kind of liquidity

For perspective, this is about twice the net worth of Bill Gates, and more than the amount of dollar-denominated foreign reserves held by Russia.

If these are not forgeries, this is potentially the financial story of the decade.

-ccm

[April Lexington]

Soros doesn't have $134 billion. Nobody on the Forbes list has $134 billion in loose liquid bonds. Except hedge funds...

[SpaceBar]

So is this Obama’s 3:30 AM phone call?

[Big_Monkey]

"They do this every day... something wrong here...

Yes, they do. But, in this staggering amount. I don't know what the entire global precious metal trading value is on a monthly basis, but it sure ain't $134 billion.

As they say, this is hugh, I'm series.

[April Lexington]

If the bonds are real. They could be fake I suppose - although would someone think they could get away with faking $134 billion in bonds? Unlikely.

Swiss bankers would surely detect $134 billion in counterfeit bonds (well, maybe not UBS...)