FBI Raids So-Called 'Ron Paul' Liberty Dollar
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http://www.newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon201.htm
FBI RAIDS LIBERTY DOLLAR
By Jon Christian Ryter
November 17, 2007
NewsWithViews.com
A dozen FBI agents staged a raid on the Liberty Dollar's Evansville, Indiana
office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Nov. 14 and confiscated all of its property and
equipment—including about two tons of commemorative Ron Paul coins. Liberty
Dollar, founded by money architect Bernard von NotHaus in 1998, was created as
an alternate "private, voluntary barter currency" to the US dollar. Liberty
Dollar was headquartered in a strip mall at 225 N. Stockwell Road in
Evansville. The future for Liberty Dollar—and its founder—who came under
investigation by the US Treasury last fall, appears bleak.
Liberty Dollar was founded as the National Organization for the Repeal of the
Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code [NORFED]. Von Nothaus caught
the eye of the federal government which launched an investigation of the
Liberty Dollar in 1999. At the time, Liberty Dollars were largely paper silver
certificates with only a limited amount of coins in circulation. In 1999 the
Secret Service, the investigative arm of the US Treasury investigated the
Liberty Dollar certificates and determined that while the company might be a
thorn in the side of the government, the certificates they peddled as barter
currency could not be construed as "counterfeit money" or a scam since NORFED
had sufficient silver on deposit to redeem the certificates they issued. A
statement to that affect was issued by Claudia Dickens, a spokeswoman for the
US Bureau of Engraving and Printing at the time. She said, "There's nothing
illegal about this. As long as it doesn't say legal tender, there's nothing
wrong with it." The term "legal tender" means that the monetary unit must be
accepted by all people as money to repay all forms of debt in the United
States. The certificates did not look like money, did not represent itself as
money and, thus, could not be construed by the government as a counterfeit
form of money.
That changed when von Nothaus began the mass coining of his Libertys rather
than printing them—and when he began to refer to them on his website as "real
money" or as "the second most-popular currency."
After coming under scrutiny again from the US Treasury in September, 2006,
which presented NORFED with a cease and desist order, von Nothaus dissolved
NORFED as of January 1, 2007, announcing it would distribute Liberty Dollars
without a political agenda. In March, 2007, von Nothaus filed a lawsuit
against Henry M. Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, then US Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, and Edmond C. Moy, Director of the US Mint asking the court
for a declamatory judgment againsat the federal government.
In its initial warning to NORFED, the government argued that Liberty Dollar
was marketing privately-produced gold and silver "Liberty Dollar" medallions
as a form of money—a privilege exclusively and constitutionally reserved for
the federal government. Article I, Section 8, subsection 5 provides that
Congress alone possesses the exclusive franchise to coin money and regulate
its value. By law (31 USC § 5112[a]), Congress directs the US Mint to mint
coins—and to establish the values of those coins. Congress places the
responsibility to control the minting and distribution of coinage to the
Secretary of the Treasury (31 USC § 51131). Accordingly, only the US Mint has
the constitutional authority to issue "legal tender" (i.e., real money). Under
18 USC § 486, it is a federal crime to utter or pass, or attempt to utter or
pass, any coins of gold or silver intended for use as "current money." Liberty
Dollar was on safe ground with barter certificates. However, when they decided
to mint coins with an intrinsic value far greater than the fiat coinage
created by the US Mint, NORFED started building a house of cards that was
doomed to fall.
Web advertisements, the US Mint argued, referred to the Liberty medallions as
"real money," and as "currency." NORFED crossed that invisible line when it
discounted the paper Liberties and told "Liberty Associates" they could earn
money by spending the Liberty Dollar into circulation. Uncle Sam's position is
that only a "legal tender" monetary system can be "spent." The statement on
the website advising associates that they can spend the medallions into
circulation, the government argued, confirms that NORFED construed their
"issue" to be current money. NORFED views its product clinically as a barter
medium of exchange and not as "current money" or "legal" tender based on the
ancient adage of trading things on par value—a side of beef for a few bushels
of corn and wheat—or an ounce of silver for a bag of groceries or half tank of
gas.
The US Mint told Sen. Bill Nelson [D-FL] in a letter referencing a constituent
of Nelson's, Albert Wagner, who challenged the US Mint classification of the
Liberty Dollar, advising Nelson that NORFED's "...website and promotional
materials refer to the medallions as 'real money' and 'currency,' and claim
that the 'Liberty Dollar' medallions are 'legal' and 'constitutional.' the
medallions," the letter said, "bear inscriptions and designs similar to those
found on United States coinage, which may lead unwary merchants or consumers
to accept the medallions as legal tender by mistake."
Sadly for NORFED, even after the US Treasury filed their initial cease and
desist warning against them, the company continued to refer to the Liberty
Dollar—both paper and coin—as a private, non-government form of currency even
though it has had a disclaimer on its website since 2004 stating that gold and
silver Liberty coins are neither "legal tender" nor "current money." Nor, the
websie claimed, did the coins resemble or appear "...to be coinage minted,
issued, authorized, or approved by any government agency." Further, the coins
carry the website address and phone number to identify them as advertising
specialty items and not legal tender. Since 1998, NORFED has more than $20
million in Liberty Dollar coins and certificates in circulation. Approximately
2,500 merchants nationwide accept Liberty Dollars for goods and services.
The US Mint told the Washington Post in October, 2006 it acted only after
federal prosecutors around the country began forwarding inquiries about the
coins, and realized the medallions had become a problem. US Mint spokeswoman
Becky Bailey told the Washington Post at that time that "...we don't take
these consumer alerts lightly. Merchants and banks are confronted by confused
customers demanding they accept Liberty Dollars. They are not legal coin." One
of those referrals came from the FBI in New York after an incident involving
the attempted use of a Liberty Dollar when Amanda Buczek and her boyfriend
Joel Lattuca at the refreshment stand at a New York Islander's hockey game
that resulted in the arrest of her father, Dan Buczek, 55 and her brother
Shane after Amanda asked the attendant if they accepted Libertys. He said no,
and they paid him with a Federal Reserve note. An off-duty Buffalo detective
arrested Dan Buczek and his son Shane—not the daughter or boyfriend—and
contacted the FBI in an attempt to pursue counterfeiting charges against the
Buczeks. While the felony charges that were initially filed against the
Buczeks were later reduced to misdemeanors, a spokesman for the US Mint said
that attempting to use the Liberty Dollar to pay for products or services
could land the consumer in prison for up to five years.
According to a US Mint spokesperson, NORFED encourages users to "do the drop."
Doing the drop means the Liberty Associate should drop one of the coins into
the hand of the merchant so he can feel the weight of it, which is either
solid silver or solid gold. Clearly, the minting of solid silver or solid
gold—or solid platinum—commemorative coins are legal. And clearly, anyone with
a decent pair of eyes can see that the coins are not the currency of the
realm—regardless what the NORFED website claimed prior to that entity's
dissolution on January 1, 2007. The production, sale and possession of Liberty
Dollars as a barter coin is not illegal. As the US Mint noted to both the
Washington Post and Sen. Nelson, there is a comparative similarity in the fact
that NORFED used the phrase "Liberty," the Liberty image and the phrase, "In
God We Trust" (which the US government is now attempting to remove from our
currency because the phrase is offensive to Muslims) to make its medallions
resemble the coins of the realm.
In the search warrant presented to the employees at 225 N. Stockwell Road at 8
a.m. on Nov. 14, FBI special agent Andrew Romagnuolo and Secret Service agent
David Stefanich with 10 other federal agents conducted the search of the
Evansville office and the seizure if everything in the building except desks
and chairs. The items listed on the search warrant suggested the FBI pretty
much intended to empty the building. According to von Nothaus, the Feds seized
about a million dollars worth of Liberty Dollar coins and precious metals that
were onsite—including approximately two tons of commemorative Ron Paul coins.
In addition, the company's bank accounts and other assets were all frozen. At
the same time, according to another source, a similar search and seizure was
taking place at the Sunshine Mint in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.
In addition to the inventory of coins and silver certificates, the agents
seized all precious metal shipping and receiving invoices, as well as the
Sunshine Mint records. Sunshine Mint is NORFED's repository in Idaho. Also
seized were all dyes, plates, molds, numismatic striking equipment and
computer programming software. Also confiscated were the lists of all 2,500
merchants who accept Liberty Dollars. Taken into custody at that time was von
Nothaus, the architect of the Liberty Dollar who was detained only briefly. As
von Nothaus noted, the FBI and Secret Service seized every ounce of metal in
the company's possession including staples and paper clips.
This reporter asked von Nothaus earlier if there was any chance that the gold
and silver used to support the Liberty Dollar certificates—which have been
ruled to be lawful—will be returned. Von Nothaus said he had posted a link on
his website, http://www.libertydollar.org/classification/index.php, for people
holding Liberty Dollar certificates to join a class action lawsuit to demand
redemption for their certificates. Von Nothaus pointed out that if the
supporters of the Liberty Dollar don't join the class action lawsuit, they
will not get their money back. The Federal government will simply keep it as
they do with the ill-gotten gains of drug dealers and other criminals, or
white collar criminals charged with RICO violations. But, it appears to day,
that even if von Nothaus escapes prison, the Liberty Dollars still in the
possession of its adherents will be nothing more than momentos of a failed
movement to restore the United States to the gold standard.
2007 Jon C. Ryter
[Read "Whatever Happened to America?"]
Jon Christian Ryter is the pseudonym of a former newspaper reporter with the
Parkersburg, WV Sentinel. He authored a syndicated newspaper column, Answers
From The Bible, from the mid-1970s until 1985. Answers From The Bible was read
weekly in many suburban markets in the United States.
Today, Jon is an advertising executive with the Washington Times. His website,
www.jonchristianryter.com has helped him establish a network of mid-to
senior-level Washington insiders who now provide him with a steady stream of
material for use both in his books and in the investigative reports that are
found on his website.
E-Mail: BAFFa...@aol.com
Bob Eld
"-" <jazze...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:473fe7e7....@news.isomedia.com...
>
> http://www.newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon201.htm
>
> FBI RAIDS LIBERTY DOLLAR
>
> By Jon Christian Ryter
> November 17, 2007
>
> NewsWithViews.com
>
>
>
> A dozen FBI agents staged a raid on the Liberty Dollar's Evansville,
Indiana
> office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Nov. 14 and confiscated all of its property
and
Liberty
> Dollar, founded by money architect Bernard von NotHaus in 1998, was
created as
> an alternate "private, voluntary barter currency" to the US dollar.
Liberty
> Dollar was headquartered in a strip mall at 225 N. Stockwell Road in
> investigation by the US Treasury last fall, appears bleak.
Good for the FBI and Treasury Dept. We can't have separate little fifedoms
with their own currency setting up quasi governments like city states here
and their around the country.
It comes under the heading of "United we stand" and is similar to the
private Militias that pop up from time to time.
Basically it is a form of treason to set up an alternative government or
currency to the US within the US. This is the trouble with Libertarians.
They are so anti government they border on being anarchists. Ron Paul coins
indeed!
If people want to set up a private government then they should purchase an
island somewhere that is not under the jurisdiction of any nation. There
they can print money to their hearts content.
Friendly Fred
>"-" <jazze...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:473fe7e7....@news.isomedia.com...
>> http://www.newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon201.htm
>Good for the FBI and Treasury Dept. We can't have separate little fifedoms
>with their own currency setting up quasi governments like city states here
>and their around the country.
What do you think the Federal Reserve is, ya frothing moron?
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Yes, George W. Bush IS a Christian. Get over it!