2 Japanese Nationals caught trying to dump 134 billion in treasuries

[Bindare_Dundat]

Two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm with Italian authorities whether the two were indeed Japanese nationals and their identities.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Seriously...what are the odds of this shit being a coincidence? All the TARP money is being paid back. Was someone trying to make off with the left overs for a quiet deposit into a Swiss bank account? Or maybe hand them over to a foreign central bank to use to keep buying new Treasuries?

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15456&size=A

Quote:
06/08/2009

Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. 


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123828522318566241.html


Quote:
3-30-09
WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department said it has about $134.5 billion left in its financial-rescue fund, giving the Obama administration a cushion as it implements expensive programs aimed at unlocking credit markets and boosting ailing industries. 

EDIT: Hmm, this gets more interesting the more I look into it. Very soon after this went down, Japan released a statement that its trust in US Treasuries is "unshakable".
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aMqRFNo4uSgY
Now the timing of that report is interesting because it means one of two scenarios, neither of which are good. Either these Japanese smugglers were trying to dump 20% of Japan's USD holdings under the table and the "unshakable" report is meant to try to save face after getting busted OR Japan didn't get the memo about the seizure in time to spike the statement. In the latter instance, it's really easy to have "unshakable" trust when the Fed/Treasury is quietly handing you TARP (US taxpayer) money to use to buy new Treasuries, therefore not risking your own money, and keeping the illusion that the game is still going strong. Also notice that Yosano's statement was released prior to a summit of G8 finance ministers being held in ITALY.

[24KT]

Seriously...what are the odds of this shit being a coincidence? All the TARP money is being paid back. Was someone trying to make off with the left overs for a quiet deposit into a Swiss bank account? Or maybe hand them over to a foreign central bank to use to keep buying new Treasuries?

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15456&size=A

Quote:
06/08/2009

Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. 


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123828522318566241.html


Quote:
3-30-09
WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department said it has about $134.5 billion left in its financial-rescue fund, giving the Obama administration a cushion as it implements expensive programs aimed at unlocking credit markets and boosting ailing industries. 

EDIT: Hmm, this gets more interesting the more I look into it. Very soon after this went down, Japan released a statement that its trust in US Treasuries is "unshakable".
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aMqRFNo4uSgY
Now the timing of that report is interesting because it means one of two scenarios, neither of which are good. Either these Japanese smugglers were trying to dump 20% of Japan's USD holdings under the table and the "unshakable" report is meant to try to save face after getting busted OR Japan didn't get the memo about the seizure in time to spike the statement. In the latter instance, it's really easy to have "unshakable" trust when the Fed/Treasury is quietly handing you TARP (US taxpayer) money to use to buy new Treasuries, therefore not risking your own money, and keeping the illusion that the game is still going strong. Also notice that Yosano's statement was released prior to a summit of G8 finance ministers being held in ITALY.

What makes you assume they were trying to dump them, ...maybe they wanted to hide them away?

[Hereford]

Well that sucks.