# $134 Billion (yes, with a "b") worth of bonds smuggled into Switzerland

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/134-billion-yes-with-a-b-worth-of-bonds-smuggled-into-switzerland/500201>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 18, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/134-billion-yes-with-a-b-worth-of-bonds-smuggled-into-switzerland/500201 "2009-06-18T18:03:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/134-billion-yes-with-a-b-worth-of-bonds-smuggled-into-switzerland/500201/1 "2009-06-18T18:03:18Z")

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[QUOTE=William Pesek]  
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.

```
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit? 

```

[/QUOTE]

[Story here.](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a62_boqkurbI) And picked up by the LA Times [here.](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/06/for-your-entertainment-bloomberg-news-columnist-william-pesek-lets-his-imagination-run-wild-about-the-strange-case-of-two-ja.html)  
I’m sure they’re fake, but it still begs the question: what were the two men planning to do with such a large amount of high-quality fake bonds? And who made the fakes in the first place? (I’m assuming forging bonds, at least forgeries worth getting detained over, can’t be done by one guy and a fancy printer. Pardon my ignorance if this isn’t the case.)

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/134-billion-yes-with-a-b-worth-of-bonds-smuggled-into-switzerland/500201/2 "2009-06-18T18:16:46Z")

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This immediately reminded me of the story a few years back about Don Johnson (yes, the _Miami Vice_ Don Johnson) being stopped at a border crossing with more than 8 Billion dollars worth of securities. But I see the OPs linked story mentions that.

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/134-billion-yes-with-a-b-worth-of-bonds-smuggled-into-switzerland/500201/3 "2009-06-18T18:50:29Z")

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[confirmed to be fake](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=adc1HD7mWY4A)