Case of Counterfeit US Treasuries in 2002

The news of two "Japanese" in their 50s arrested in Italy for possessing undeclared US Treasury bonds ($134 billion, about 1/4 of total Japanese holding) and attempting to carry them into Switzerland has been reported widely in the US.

It looks to me like a usual business between Japanese "yakuza" and foreign counterparts, whether it is Italian Mafia, Russian Mafia, or Chinese Triad. If that's the case, it is highly likely these Treasuries are counterfeit.

It has happened before, on a much bigger scale.

According to old Kyodo News on April 7, 2002, two Japanese in their mid 40s, a Japanese American businessman, and a real estate broker in Hong Kong were indicted by the Hong Kong Police for the possession of counterfeit US Treasury bonds ($370 billion, if they were genuine). Two Japanese and the Japanese American were arrested in a Hong Kong hotel for the possession of the counterfeit Treasuries, and the real estate broker was arrested when he came to the hotel to meet them; he had 88 counterfeit US $100 bills on him. One of them is said to have admitted that they had arranged a meeting with a certain group in Guanzhou in China.

I couldn't locate the original news, as Kyodo has changed the site. The link that points to Kyodo news is broken, but the article summary above is here. (In Japanese. They put the year first on the date, by the way. Year-Month-Day format.)

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