Feds Raid Organization Minting Ron Paul Coins
EVANSVILLE, Indiana — Federal agents raided the headquarters of a group that produces illegal currency and puts it in circulation, seizing gold, silver and two tons of copper coins featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Agents also took records, computers and froze the bank accounts at the “Liberty Dollar” headquarters during the Thursday raid, Bernard von NotHaus, founder of the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act & Internal Revenue Code, said in a posting on the group’s Web site.
The organization, which is critical of the Federal Reserve, has repeatedly clashed with the federal government, which contends that the gold, silver and copper coins it produces are illegal. NORFED claims its Liberty Dollars are inflation free and can restore stability to financial markets by allowing commerce based on a currency that does not fluctuate in value like the U.S. dollar.
“They’re running scared right now and they had to do something,” von NotHaus told The Associated Press Friday. “I’m volunteering to meet the agents and get arrested so we can thrash this out in court.”
Wendy Osborne, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Indianapolis office, declined to comment and referred all questions to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of North Carolina. Suellen Pierce, a spokeswoman for that office, also declined to comment.
The raid comes eight months after von NotHaus filed a lawsuit in federal court in Evansville seeking a permanent injunction to stop the federal government from labeling the Liberty Dollar an illegal currency.
The U.S. Mint issued a warning this year that the Liberty Dollar violated the Constitution and warned consumers against using them unsuspectingly.
Paul’s campaign said it had not authorized production of the Ron Paul dollars.
“We were aware they existed, but we didn’t have any affiliation with them,” said Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Ron Paul’s campaign. “He didn’t ask our permission to make them.”
(CNN)
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Von Nut House
November 16th, 2007 at 12:36 pmOf course it’s inflation free - it’s not backed by anything!Even arcade tokens are worth SOMETHING.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:41 pmWhat a meglo-maniac….
November 16th, 2007 at 1:09 pmand what is this?:
“featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.”
Since when is RP a republican?
I’m no lawyer, but making your own, non-counterfeit coins doesn’t seem like a crime to me.
I received coins minted by the US military and handed out to troops that did well. They had no value recognized as “currency”.
If people want to trade goods for other goods, such as non-government coins, isn’t that considered a “barter”?
(But-sales tax is hard to collect on barter-maybe that’s the real issue here…)
November 17th, 2007 at 10:17 am