In mid- December, a lawsuit emerged over $1 Trillion in US Gov't bonds owned by the Dragon family (ancient imperial family of China prior to communism) alleging that the US gov't had confiscated $145 Billion in authentic US gov't bonds from 2 of the Dragon family's representatives. The story is remarkable, and can be found here.
Only adding credibility to the original lawsuit, a new suit has been filed by a Pennsylvania man with the Federal Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania over $15 Billion in authentic Federal Reserve bonds dated 1934 which The Fed refuses to honor. The man claims to hold 750 $1 Billion bonds dated 1934.
What at first may seem like an isolated incident, now appears to be an emerging pattern of theft of U.S. bonds from individuals who have either acquired them individually or have had them passed down through generations. That is, at least the claims of stolen bonds are becoming more and more common.
Take, for instance, another recent lawsuit filed with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania – U.S. Federal Court, by Joseph Riad.
Riad is suing the U.S. Federal Government for $15 billion as a result of the fifteen $1 billion bonds that he alleges have yet to be returned to his possession by an agent of the Department of Homeland Security. Riad claims to have a total of 735 $1 billion Federal Reserve bonds that are stashed in banks outside of Philadelphia where he lives. These 735 are in addition to the 15 bonds he is suing for.
The 15 bonds at issue, according to Riad, came from three rare “sealed and certified bronze boxes,” each of which contained 245 $1 billion Federal Reserve bonds dated back to 1934.
As Reuben Kramer of Courthouse News Service writes, “The billion-dollar bonds allegedly were used by the government for debt-management purposes in the 1930’s when physically moving lower-denomination currency or gold was impractical.” Riad allegedly discovered the bonds after his attorney suggested he open the boxes to determine whether or not there was anything of value inside them.
But, while some may automatically assume that Riad’s claim is false or that his bonds are fake, all indications are that the bonds are, in fact, real. Indeed, Riad has cited in his lawsuit “extensive and exhaustive proof of the authenticity of the Bonds.” However, according to Riad, no federal agency will redeem them, despite this proof.
As part of his case, Riad has provided what he calls and Affidavit of Procurement, in which he states that the boxes became collateral for over $76,000 in loans made by him to “a mandate to the South African government.”
Riad claims that he has spent nine years confirming the authenticity of the bonds, including contacting a number of officials and experts in the field of bonds, finance, and sculpting and metal.
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