Free Republic

A police traffic stop in suburban Chicago turned into federal charges after cops found law enforcement badges and about $800,000 in counterfeit U.S. Savings Bonds in the driver’s car, according to a newly-filed criminal complaint. Robert R. Krilich, 58, is charged with possessing a counterfeit U.S. security intending to defraud. Rosemont police pulled Krilich over on Tuesday afternoon because they didn’t see a license plate on his car, officials said. Things snowballed from there. First, Krilich told the officers that he just picked up his car from O’Hare after returning from Las Vegas, and he believed someone stole his plates...

Italian police said on Friday they had seized about $6 trillion of fake U.S. Treasury bonds in Switzerland, and issued arrest warrants for eight people accused of international fraud and other financial crimes. The operation, co-ordinated by prosecutors from the southern Italian city of Potenza, was carried out by Italian and Swiss authorities after a year-long investigation, an Italian police source said.

While there is precious little in terms of detail coming out of the latest and literally greatest "fake" bond story in history, the BBC has been kind enough to release the pictures of the boxes that the supposedly fake bonds were contained in. While we reserve judgment on the authenticity of the bonds, what we wonder is whether the boxes were also fake. Because while we can understand why someone would counterfeit the Treasury paper itself, what we don't get is why someone would go the extra effort to also create a "fake" compartment in which to store it. In...

Italian authorities have confiscated $20 billion in counterfeit U.S. government bonds. Authorities say the bonds were of a quality that theoretically could have defrauded financial institutions. But a stop at a highway rest area where a group of Carabinieri military police were taking a break proved to be the undoing of the group. A Carabinieri statement said officers did a routine search of the vehicles after the "suspicious" behaviour of the men and found "to their surprise" a briefcase with 40 bonds 0each valued at $500 million. Officials said Wednesday that U.S. officials confirmed the bonds were counterefeit. The six...

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...