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Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):
Here's hoping that yesterday's conviction of Liberty
Dollar founder Bernard von NotHaus in federal court
in North Carolina won't discourage the advocates of free markets in gold and
silver and competitive currencies.
Those objectives were advanced by Liberty Dollar's
seeking to put precious metal back into the hands of the people and back into
circulation as currency. But the details of von NotHaus'
conviction, as cited in the statement issued by the U.S. attorney for the
Western District of North Carolina, Anne Tompkins, suggest that Liberty
Dollar pursued those objectives in the wrong way -- a way the government was
able to construe as more or less counterfeiting.
That is, Liberty Dollar's coins "were marked
with the dollar sign, the words 'dollar,' 'USA,' 'Liberty,' 'Trust in God'
(instead of 'In God We Trust'), and other features associated with legitimate
U.S. coinage."
Of course the suggestion of counterfeiting was
always a little silly, insofar as Liberty Dollar's
coins were precious metal and general-circulation U.S. currency coins have
all been base metal since 1965. How can a supposed counterfeit be worth more
than a legitimate original? It's doubtful that any user of a Liberty Dollar
coin was ever really confused about the difference.
But Liberty Dollar also was part of an organization
that aimed to repeal the Federal Reserve System and thus was more easily
construed as subversion. Certainly the Liberty Dollar operation was politically
subversive, and the government seems to have gone nearly berserk about it
precisely because of its politics.
"Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency
of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism," U.S.
Attorney Tompkins said. "While these forms of anti-government activities
do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a
clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country. ... We
are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption, and
dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our
democratic form of government."
Undermining the legitimate currency of this country?
Representing a clear and present danger to the country's economic stability?
Does the U.S. attorney mean undermining the currency
that has lost something like 98 percent of its value since the enactment in
1913 of the Federal Reserve System about which the Liberty Dollar operation complained?
Does the U.S. attorney mean a danger to the economic stability of the country
that has been using that ever-devaluing currency, the country that has
experienced only booms and busts and even a couple of depressions under the
reign of the Federal Reserve? And by "democratic form of
government," does the U.S. attorney mean the Federal Reserve System
that, in secret, rigs markets and bestows virtually infinite patronage on the
large banking houses that have been looting the country?
If undermining that currency and the economic
stability of the country that uses it is really a crime, and if damaging
democracy is really a crime, why haven't a few Fed chairmen been prosecuted?
As for the nececessity for
the government to infiltrate organizations that might challenge the currency
system, the Liberty Dollar enterprise functioned entirely in the open. It
operated an Internet site and distributed press releases. Unlike the
government, it wasn't in the business of keeping secrets. It seems to have
been quite candid about what it was doing.
Nevertheless, Liberty Dollar probably was
mistaken, legally and tactically, in its minting format, its using devices that could liken its coins to
government coins. If the Liberty Dollar coins didn't use those devices, if Liberty
Dollar had distinguished its coins by weight of metal rather than any dollar
value and had imprinted on them some legend explicitly distinguishing them
from government coins, the case might have ended differently -- or well might
not have been prosecuted at all.
In any event the Liberty Dollar case was more a political
case than a case of counterfeiting, fraud, or deceit. Indeed, the country
probably has gained more from it -- gained some understanding of the currency
system -- than the country has lost from the circulation of some precious
metal coinage. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Voorhees should take this
into account when sentencing von NotHaus.
Today's story in the Asheville Citizen-Times about
the conviction of von NotHaus is appended. And some
sardonic commentary about his conviction can be found at Zero Hedge here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fbi-busts-mastermind-criminal-issuing-s...
Chris
Powell
Gold
Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
* * *
Liberty Dollar Creator Convicted in Federal Court
By Clarke Morrison
Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville, North Carolina
Saturday, March 19, 2011
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110319...06/1001/news...
The leader of a group that marketed a fake currency
called Liberty Dollars in the Asheville area and elsewhere has been found
guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy against the government in a case of
"domestic terrorism."
Bernard von NotHaus was
convicted Friday at the conclusion of an eight-day trial in U.S. District
Court in Statesville. The jury deliberated less than two hours, according to
the Department of Justice.
Charges remain pending against William Kevin Innes, an
Asheville man who authorities said recruited merchants in Western North
Carolina willing to accept the "barter" currency, according to
court records. Innes was indicted along with von NotHaus
in 2009.
"Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency
of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism," U.S.
Attorney Anne Tompkins said. "While these forms of anti-government
activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and
represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this
country."
The case was investigated by the FBI, Buncombe
County Sheriff's Office, and U.S. Secret Service with help from the U.S.
Mint.
"We are determined to meet these threats
through infiltration, disruption, and dismantling of organizations which seek
to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government,"
Tompkins said.
Von NotHaus, 67, faces up
to 25 years in prison during sentencing, which hasn't been scheduled. The
government also is seeking the forfeiture of about 16,000 pounds of Liberty
Dollar coins and precious metals valued at nearly $7 million.
According to court documents, von NotHaus founded the National Organization for the Repeal
of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code in Evansville, Ind., in
1998, and developed the Liberty Dollar. He touted the silver medallions as an
inflation-proof alternative to official currency.
The coins were marked with the dollar sign, the
words "dollar," "USA," "Liberty," "Trust
in God" (instead of "In God We Trust") and other features
associated with legitimate U.S. coins.
A 2007 affidavit said more than 70 businesses in the
Asheville area agreed to accept the Liberty Dollar. Innes held the title of
North Carolina regional currency officer and was one of three members of the group’s
executive committee, an indictment states.
The charges against Innes include passing coins
resembling genuine U.S. coins and intended for use as money, mail fraud, and
possession Liberty Dollar coins with intent to defraud. Authorities said when
he was arrested that he faces up to 45 years in prison.
Despite warnings from the federal government, Innes
told the Citizen-Times in 2006 that Liberty Dollars were legal.
"One of the first things I did when I started
this in Asheville was to go to the police and tell them what I was
doing," he said.
Federal agents raided von NotHaus'
company headquarters in 2007 and seized documents and precious metals. A
private mint in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, that produced the coins was raided the
same day.
Congress has exclusive power to coin money in the
U.S. and to regulate its value, according to the Treasury Department.
* * *
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