Italian Police Ask SEC to Authenticate Seized U.S. Treasuries
By Sonia Sirletti and John Glover
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Italy갽s financial police said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland.
The bonds, with a face value of more than $134 billion, are probably forgeries, Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Guardia di Finanza in Como, Italy, said today. If the notes are genuine, the pair would be the U.S. government갽s fourth-biggest creditor, ahead of the U.K. with $128 billion of U.S. debt and just behind Russia, which is owed $138 billion.
The seized notes include 249 securities with a face value of $500 million each and 10 additional bonds with a value of more than $1 billion, the police force said on its Web site. Such high denominations would not have existed in 1934, the purported issue date of the notes, Mecarelli said. Moreover, the 갾Kennedy갿 classification of the bonds doesn갽t appear to exist, he said.
The bonds were seized in Chiasso, Italy. Mecarelli said he expects a determination from the SEC 갾within a few days.갿
Last Updated: June 12, 2009 10:37 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=afJXAA1ahZyo
$134bn bond scam arrests
By Hannah McCarthy
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Two middle-aged men have reportedly been detained in Italy while trying to take $134bn in US bonds – equivalent to the entire GDP of Kazakhstan – into Switzerland.
The undeclared bonds were discovered by Italian police in the false bottom of a suitcase when they searched the men on a train stopping in Chiasso, near the Swiss border, on 3 June. Japan is investigating reports that two of its citizens are involved.
The two men would, if the bonds are genuine, be the US government"s fourth-biggest creditor, ahead of the UK with $128bn of US debt, and behind Russia, which is owed $138bn. The two men could also be fined around 40 per cent of the total value of the bonds – $38bn.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/134bn-bond-scam-arrests-1704893.html
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