Italy seizes $6 trillion in fake US bonds
MILAN - The Associated Press
File photo shows the US Treasury. AFP photo
Authorities in Switzerland have confiscated $6 trillion in counterfeit U.S. bonds at the request of Italian prosecutors, authorities said Friday.In Italy, eight people were arrested across the country and placed under investigation for fraud and other crimes.
The bonds, carrying the false date of issue of 1934, had been transported in 2007 from Hong Kong to Zurich, where they were transferred to a Swiss trust, according to prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Potenza.
Authorities said that U.S. officials had confirmed the bonds were counterfeit.
Prosecutors said the fraud had not been completed, but that it appeared that the suspects intended to try to sell the fake bonds to a developing nation, directly or through an intermediary bank.
Recently, Carabinieri carrying out a routine search at a highway rest stop found a briefcase containing $20 billion in fake bonds.
