The federal judge in the Liberty Dollar counterfeiting case from North Carolina today upheld the jury's March 2011 conviction of the alternative currency system's founder, Bernard von NotHaus. (For an account of von NotHaus' conviction, see: http://www.gata.org/node/9715.)
In a 47-page decision that took note of arguments made by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee's "friend of the court" brief, the judge, Richard L. Voorhees, ruled that the jury had not gone against the evidence at trial and that von NotHaus' constitutional arguments were unavailing.
The judge scheduled von NotHaus to be sentenced in December.
Since the Liberty Dollar case seems to have involved a political challenge to federal currency law more than a serious counterfeiting scheme, and since the U.S. government already has seized all of Liberty Dollar's assets, it may be hard to see the need to imprison von NotHaus. If his counsel thinks there is merit in making such an argument to the judge prior to sentencing, GATA will let you know.
Judge Voorhees' decision and order are posted at GATA's Internet site here:
http://www.gata.org/files/VonNotHausOrder-Nov-10-2014.pdf
