Coin World's Paul Gilkes reports this week that the Internet auction house eBay has forbidden listing of Liberty Dollar coins ... er, medallions ... at the request of the U.S. Secret Service, which considers them counterfeits of U.S. coinage:
http://www.coinworld.com/articles/liberty-dollars-ban-goes-into-effect-a...
Liberty Dollar founder Bernard von Not Haus still awaits sentencing for his conviction 21 months ago in federal court in North Carolina on counterfeiting charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department. The U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina accused von Not Haus of "domestic terrorism":
http://www.gata.org/files/USAttorneyPressRelease.pdf
Also this week the Justice Department declined to bring criminal charges against any officers of HSBC, the biggest short in the gold market, upon the bank's agreement to pay nearly $2 billion in fines for laundering $881 million in Mexican and Colombian drug gang money. The Justice Department also accused HSBC of doing business with customers in Iran, Libya, Sudan, Burma, and Cuba in violations of sanctions law:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/11/us-hsbc-probe-idUSBRE8BA05M201...
HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver said HSBC now "is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes."
Maybe von Not Haus is a changed man too. At least now he has every right to look at the inscription above the columns of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington --
http://www.gata.org/files/USSupremeCourtBuilding.jpg
-- and laugh ruefully.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
