Suitcase With $134 Billion confiscated at CH border??
Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek
Commentary by William Pesek
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- It’s a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.
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.
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?
There's more on the internet. Get yer google on...
Last edited by Nathu; 18.06.2009 at 16:33.
Reason: Excerpt shortened: http://www.englishforum.ch/announcements/1348-policy-copying-content-copy-paste-quoting-linking-etc.html
Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek
the story is indeed on Bloomberg but sounds like utter horseshit to me. None of the financial logic in the story makes any sense...
a) no one with that kind of money (including the psychotic Kim-il-Jong) will risk moving it with 'two Japanese businessmen'
b) The US cannot control such movements anyway, so any talk of US 'losing control' is bunk
c) billion dollar Kennedy binds being surreptitiously issued? Pullleeeze... you're talking billion dollars. with a B. this is not a thousand pounds of expenses by some British MP that fell thru the cracks....
If we assume these stories are true then the questions are?
1. if they are real bonds then who has that much money to carry around?
2. If they are not real bonds then who has so much money as to be financially capable to become a victim of such a huge fraud? If they came in my local bar offering billion dollar bonds at a discount then in my case the discount would have to be more than 99.9999%.
Re: Suitcase With $134 Billion confiscated at CH border??
The Italian police indeed released these news. Apparently some of the bonds look more genuine than others, but nothing is confirmed yet. A rather odd story!
The Italian police indeed released these news. Apparently some of the bonds look more genuine than others, but nothing is confirmed yet. A rather odd story!
the Italians do know about Monopoly, don't they ..??
Re: Suitcase With $134 Billion confiscated at CH border??
i was following this with interest.
one possibility is that the bonds belong to the .jp govt and they are selling them on the sly to whittle down their depreciating US dollar holdings. if this is the case, expect denials all round and the bonds to be declared fake (as if sombody would fake a 500m bond hoping to cash it in without thorough checks).
the other intriguing thing is that the amount of bonds is huge - more than you'd expect to still be outstanding for redemption. now this prompts the question as to whether the FED secretly raised funds from the .jp govt in the past 'off the record'...
...
2. If they are not real bonds then who has so much money as to be
financially capable to become a victim of such a huge fraud? If they came
in my local bar offering billion dollar bonds at a discount then in my case
the discount would have to be more than 99.9999%.
...
...perhaps something more like a Madoff operation which required visual
proof that the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme were invested in something
"real" (i.e. they were to be props in a scam). Lots of rich people with
lots of real money fell for that Madoff one, after all!
...perhaps intended to use as fraudulent collateral for brokerage loans.
They must have been dobbed in, unless they were acting suspiciously... Also, I'd be surprised if the average customs person could recognise a bond.
I think (if the newspapers are correct) they were hidden in suitcases with false bottoms which is what aroused the Customs. Probably if they were just lying around in the suitcases they would have been ignored.
Nevertheless it does give rise to some interesting speculation.
Could also be the Chinese or Russian Govts. using Japanese couriers?
Anyway they must be excellent fakes if they are being examined.
Re: Suitcase With $134 Billion confiscated at CH border??
I like a juicy conspiracy as much as the next guy, but some of the explanations being bandied about defy belief ..
"one possibility is that the bonds belong to the .jp govt and they are selling them on the sly"
"as to whether the FED secretly raised funds from the .jp govt in the past 'off the record'..."
Seriously, does anyone think that Greenspan rolled a couple billion worth of bonds under his arm, met the Jap Finance Minister in the parking lot of a Seven Eleven and returned with a suitcase stuffed with cash? And then over drinks in the Hilton, he passed the suitcase to Sandy Weil and Jamie Dimon..???
These two, without telling a soul, quietly placed the bags of cash in their vaults (on a sunday, of course); their cashiers then merrily dispensed this cash to the bank's customers. The silly accountants and auditors never noticed the extra money .... ??????
Really guys .... can we come up with a reasonable one at least ?
. Case solved.
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