Posted on 06/10/2009 10:45:08 PM PDT by Xenophon450
ROME —
Two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm with Italian authorities whether the two were indeed Japanese nationals and their identities.
According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that was searched by the Italian authorities June 3 when they were in Chiasso, at the border with Switzerland, about 50 kilometers north of Milan. The daily did not say on what charges they have been detained, but the two may have been detained on suspicion of attempting to take a large amount of securities out of Italy without declaring it because the paper said they had not declared the bonds.
Whatever the story is, this is BIG news. Expect the media to cover the latest Hollywood blockbuster or a shooting tomorrow.
135 billion in bonds? Pshhhh, who won AMERICAN IDOL!!! AMIRITE?
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.
Actually they do. Just look at the recent Siemens "black money" scandal.
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...
Those bast&rds. I sent them out for change a week ago.........
That is the most likely scenario that I can imagine. This is a big story.
Agreed. But not $134 Billion!
Sounds like a cross between the Italian Job and Die Hard I?
This would be a 100x bigger, at least. But, as someone else pointed out, this has Chicoms written all over it.
Soros again?
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)
Don Wonson
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.
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
So is this Obama’s 3:30 AM phone call?
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.
Swiss bankers would surely detect $134 billion in counterfeit bonds (well, maybe not UBS...)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.