US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

[Chris Coles]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Thanks for verifying the translation.

For the record, you can get any language translated on your web page. With the new IE 8 it gives it to you via Bing but just go to the search box and ask Translate

The first one was Altavista using the Babel fish http://www.altavista.com/ - just look below the box and you will find Babel Fish Translate.

Google http://translate.google.com/#

It only takes a few moments and from then onwards every language is there for the translation.

[Shakespear]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I would think that anyone making a delivery of something like this would be flying an exclusive Lear Jet with point to point delivery of the passengers. The bonds safely hidden in the plush Corinthian leather where the Yakuza boys are sitting, such that no "sniffing" dog (Yehhh, right Brother) would have a clue it is there.

This all sounds just too stupid.

Hiding the dumb paper in a delivery container of super dupper printer paper from Japan to Switzerland would befuddle the "finance police" even more. Go looking through million of sheets of paper for this stuff :p

[Andreuccio]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

For the record, you can get any language translated on your web page. With the new IE 8 it gives it to you via Bing but just go to the search box and ask Translate

The first one was Altavista using the Babel fish http://www.altavista.com/ - just look below the box and you will find Babel Fish Translate.

Google http://translate.google.com/#

It only takes a few moments and from then onwards every language is there for the translation.

Great! Years of hard work made obsolete by a f---ing computer program. :mad:

At least I enjoyed myself while doing it. (Hat tip to the women both in Italy and at UCLA.)




(In reality, while the programs are good, and will give you the gist of what is being said, they are prone to mistakes, and can't translate into idioms well. Witness the translation of this same passage on the News of the Weird thread that Metalman got.)

[Andreuccio]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I had to challenge myself. Another quick (late?) n' dirty translation of the Italian article:


96 Million Euro of US Treasury Notes Confiscated At Chiasso
(Adnkronos)

June 4, Milano

249 US Federal Reserve bonds, worth a nominal value of 500 million dollars each, and 10 Kennedy bonds worth 1 billion dollars each, were hidden in a briefcase having a double bottom, for a total of 134 billion dollars, equivalent to 96 billion euro.

The confiscation took place at the Chiasso International Train station, between Switzerland and Italy, by the Territorial Operatives Section at Chiasso, in collaboration with the service men from the Financial Control Group at Chiasso Bridge, in the course of working to prevent illicit traffic of money.

The valuables were in the possession of two Japanese men in their 50's, from a train originating in Italy, who insisted that they had nothing to declare when they were taken aside at Chiasso train station.

However, a thorough check of their baggage revealed the US treasury bills, hidden in the bottom of a briefcase, in a closed compartment, separate from the one containing their personal belongings.

Besides the treasury bills, the two Japanese were transporting original and conspicuous bank documents.

The bonds and the accompanying documents, which were also confiscated, are under investigation to determine their authenticity and origin. If the treasury bonds are found to be authentic, under normal circumstances, the administrative sanctions applicable to the owners could reach 38 billion euro, equal to the sum of 40% of the amount above the duty-free limit of 10,000 euro.

Other news

I'm curious: what was the other news?

[Chris Coles]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I was not trying to make out the translations were good, simply that for the uninitiated, there is a way to get at the gist of what was written in another language. Having had to get someone else to translate patents into English, I can relate that the meaning of a single word can have immense ramifications for the understanding of any documents true meaning. But surely; that is the fun of language and translation, discovering the truth hidden in a well written sentence.

[lurker]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I was not trying to make out the translations were good, simply that for the uninitiated, there is a way to get at the gist of what was written in another language. Having had to get someone else to translate patents into English, I can relate that the meaning of a single word can have immense ramifications for the understanding of any documents true meaning. But surely; that is the fun of language and translation, discovering the truth hidden in a well written sentence.

In other words we should use all of the translation engines we can find on the web until we find one that translates the article into something that confirms our prejudices and doesn't challenge our preconceptions. ;)

We then present that translation when making our argument.

[Chris Coles]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

In other words we should use all of the translation engines we can find on the web until we find one that translates the article into something that confirms our prejudices and doesn't challenge our preconceptions. ;)

We then present that translation when making our argument.

I always recommend that the best way to understand the full potential is to get your hands on a full, large page edition of The Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oed.com/ and look up, (such as), should, or would or; might. (I note that the large edition is no longer available so there is a long term investment if you can get hold of one for the future).

I once wrote a 42 page dissertation on the meaning of Obvious when arguing my case for the grant of my first US patent using the large edition OED in my local library as my point of reference. Great fun!

[Shakespear]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

Man, this is better than highway robbery of the Old West kind.

Lets say these guys are ligit. Just got 10 bonds worth $500 million from their business partners in Italy and want to move them physically to Switzerland.

If you declare you have them at the boarder what would happen in this case?

I assume the charge of 40% is only if you do not declare them. Telling the Italian gov. BEFORE you got to the boarder that you are traveling with these bonds would be a suicide. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out how this would play out there.

At one time in Argentina there was a rash of attacks on people leaving banks with large sums of money. It turned out that tellers and bank officials aware of who was going to come to the bank to make the withdraw would work with "friends" who would arrange attacks on these people to free them of their cash as they left. :eek:

[Andreuccio]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I was not trying to make out the translations were good, simply that for the uninitiated, there is a way to get at the gist of what was written in another language.

No worries, man. I'm not blaming you personally for the callousness of technology, nor for the poor decisions I made in my youth. (Again, hat tip to the women in Italy and at UCLA. ;)) I could just as easily, (well, maybe not "as easily", but perhaps "just as well"), have studied engineering or law. Then maybe I'd have my own website. I could call it iGeranium, or iJurytrial, or some such name. Alas, it is not to be.

Having had to get someone else to translate patents into English, I can relate that the meaning of a single word can have immense ramifications for the understanding of any documents true meaning. But surely; that is the fun of language and translation, discovering the truth hidden in a well written sentence.

So true. Some of the most interesting, and illuminating, classes I took were from a professor who specialized in finding meaning in repeated words, synonyms, or in some cases even letters, in works like Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata, or Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, that would somehow enhance, or perhaps change, the meaning of the entire passage.

[SuitablyIronic]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

The valuables were in the possession of two Japanese men in their 50's, from a train originating in Italy, who insisted that they had nothing to declare when they were taken aside at Chiasso train station.

However, a thorough check of their baggage revealed the US treasury bills, hidden in the bottom of a briefcase, in a closed compartment, separate from the one containing their personal belongings.

Besides the treasury bills, the two Japanese were transporting original and conspicuous bank documents.

This must be a scam. Have you ever taken a train from Italy to Switzerland? The two countries are part of the Schengen Agreement (no customs barriers).

You are more likely to have a thorough bag search catching a train from New York to New Jersey.

[Chomsky]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

This finally hit Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=ayy1QKcwcGN0

[Sharky]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

The Italian press release describes the bonds as "Federal Reserve Bonds." Those are not the same as US Treasury bonds.

The Fed themselves clearly say that they do not issue bonds (see Note 3 at the bottom of the page):

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardD...003/sr0314.htm

The photo on that page looks like the photo of the bonds that were seized (with an altered dollar at the top).

There is certainly precedent for forging Federal Reserve Bonds. $2 trillion worth of forgeries were confiscated in the Philippines in 2001:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...on-692676.html

My guess about what happened: The two Japanese guys paid quite a bit for what they thought were legitimate bonds. They were transporting them to Switzerland in an attempt to use them for collateral on a loan. But the bonds are obviously fake, as a 5 minute phone call to the Fed would easily reveal.

[cjppjc]

Re: US$ 134.5 billion seized at Italian Border

I think the fraud began with an innocent e-mail from Nigeria.

[pianodoctor]

Stopping the $134.5 Billion Madness

I've been posting on this here, and on Max Keiser, but people are either ignoring it or blowing it off. I'm going to try again.

View this article: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...7m10bonds.html

Then ask yourself which is more likely: A) The bonds are real B) It's the biggest counterfeiting scam ever in history or C) It's a mundane, unoriginal scam such as the one in the link I posted above.

On iTulip and Max Keiser it seems the only possibilities people are considering are A or B. But honestly, doesn't C really seem like the more likely one?

Thank you for your consideration.

[Sharky]

Re: Stopping the $134.5 Billion Madness

C is definitely the most likely.

As I've posted in other threads: the press reported the bonds as being "Federal Reserve Bonds." The Fed doesn't issue bonds, and has a warning on their site about previous frauds involving those kinds of fakes. In addition, there have been raids on previous counterfeiters involving $2 trillion in fake Fed bonds -- so the amount involved in Italy is also historically not that large.