We at Acrimoney love financial fiction. Oh, but wait. Today’s story isn’t fiction.
A Facebook friend sent this link to examiner.com. Details have been percolating through the Internet all week about Treasury bonds found in Como, Italy.
Two Japanese nationals were detained in northern Italy last week by Italian police. These men were found with “249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, plus 10 Kennedy bonds and other U.S. government securities worth a billion dollar each,” according to the International Business Times.
Not so fast. Nobody ever moves mountains of cash in physical form. It never happens.
This morning, the US Treasury confirmed the bearer bonds are fake. In fact, Reuters reported there are only $105 million in Treasury bearer bonds outstanding. That’s $105 million in total, not $105 billion. And over the last two years, authorities have confiscated $800 million in fake bearer bonds throughout the Como area of Northern Italy.
Bold cons. $134 billion is Madoff times two.
We know a different side of Como. It ranks as one of the most alluring tourist destinations on the planet. It’s home to an extraordinary lake and movie sets from Casino Royale, Star Wars II, and Ocean’s Twelve.
One of our readers says about the region, “If I can’t go to heaven when I die, Como is my second choice.”
That’s why Acrimoney is issuing a travel advisory. Those can’t miss opportunities in Como, Italy— $134 billion in US bearer bonds— are too good to be true. You heard it from us.
The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.
The big question, still, is what the apparent forgerers hoped to do with the paper.
Nothing, there isn’t anything you can do with 249 bonds worth 500 million dollars each one and others worth 1 billion each one.
No one and no bank would take them without checking whether they’re true.
This is the reason they’re real bonds.
No one has ANY INTEREST to forge bonds of those amounts.
They’re not fake. They’re bonds given to foreign central banks only.
That’s a great point, Paolo. As evidenced by the fact that $164 billions equals @ 20 percent of Japan’s Treasury holdings. Please let us know about developments regarding the potential targets.
Best,
Norb