Mint condition: Liberty Dollar raid.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Money laundering and fraud - Brief article

IN NOVEMBER the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Indiana offices of the company that sells the privately minted metal coins known as Liberty Dollars, an alternative currency beloved by those who think U.S. paper money is inherently inflationary. Later that month, G-men hit the Idaho company that mints the coins. In both instances, the government took all the coins it found, along with computers and other records.

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According to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (where the investigation was based), the FBI conducted "undercover operations to determine the legality of the American Liberty Dollar currency" from August 2005 to July 2007. It decided that Liberty Dollars were essentially fake U.S...