DummDays Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 yesterday, one - for me astonishing and hardly to understand - financial news made headlines in europe http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/italy-police-seize-6-trillion-of-fake-u-s-treasury-bonds-in-switzerland.html ..nominal value of $1 billion a piece, dated 1934 ? can somebody explain me, how people "hold" us treasury bonds? who else than a big bank could buy such a single bond? thanks, if somebody can give me a clue about this "story" cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 there isn't much to understand. the bonds are fake. bonds denominated one billion dollars each never existed. until the mid 90s US Treasuries could be held physically in a locker or under the mattress and interest coupons submitted at due date for cash. slightly more information here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geriatrickid Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources Hmm. Who needs plutonium?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flying Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources Hmm. Who needs plutonium?? Oh lord is there no sub-forum safe from the zealots cheerleading? Next you know who will be here warning us of the impending doom I have all but stopped reading & posting in the Thai/World news sections because of these zealots They even take fake names now like Z12 to spew rhetoric till banned although it was pretty obvious who that was.... One would hope the financial section could remain a safe haven........... Edited February 18, 2012 by flying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rakman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources Hmm. Who needs plutonium?? How would Nigeria get Plutonium? Plutonium can only be created in (typically) graphite pile reactors. Nigeria has a small (31KW) commercial miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) designed by China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) The whole thing sounds like a Nigerian email money scam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulse Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 This sounds more like a bit from an Austin Powers movie than anything. Though I wonder if, as Naam says, there were never any genuine $Billion denomination bonds, why would anyone bother to counterfeit them? And why would any authorities consider them some kind of threat? I'm asking because I don't know. Or perhaps these particular Italians are trying to pull one over on the Nigerian Royal Family member who keeps e-mailing them trying to get the Italians to send $25,000 in return for a $25,000,000 reward for helping them get some money out of the country? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 And why would any authorities consider them some kind of threat? I'm asking because I don't know. and neither does the journàsslist know who wrote the rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 ...why would anyone bother to counterfeit them? because of the proverbial sucker who is born every minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geriatrickid Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources Hmm. Who needs plutonium?? Oh lord is there no sub-forum safe from the zealots cheerleading? Next you know who will be here warning us of the impending doom I have all but stopped reading & posting in the Thai/World news sections because of these zealots They even take fake names now like Z12 to spew rhetoric till banned although it was pretty obvious who that was.... One would hope the financial section could remain a safe haven........... I asked a reasonable question. Who needs plutonium? and who is this Z12? Was it Zorro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flying Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) I asked a reasonable question. Who needs plutonium? and who is this Z12? Was it Zorro? Nah Zorro was not a zealot Edited February 21, 2012 by flying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I asked a reasonable question. Who needs plutonium? and who is this Z12? Was it Zorro? Nah Zorro was not a zealot and neither did Zorro's wife select the ugliest housemaid available whenever the Zorro family employed one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now