FBI raid on Liberty Dollar confirmed without explanation

8:25p ET Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Appended here are two news accounts confirming the FBI raid on the office of Liberty Dollar in Evansville, Indiana, which was reported in this morning's GATA Dispatch.

The raid appears to have taken place yesterday, not today, as first reported. The error in time almost certainly resulted from the inability of Liberty Dollar founder Bernard von NotHaus to dispatch until this morning his letter to customers, which must have been written yesterday afternoon or evening.

We'll share more information about this with you as it becomes available. We're hoping that Liberty Dollar's defense fund is still operating even though the credit card contribution mechanism at its Internet site is not working at this hour. But if the government indeed has frozen Liberty Dollar's accounts, raising money for the defense will be more of a challenge.

Here's the contact information for Liberty Dollar:

Liberty Dollar
225 North Stockwell Road
Evansville, Indiana 47715
Phone: 812-473-5250
Email: Info@LibertyDollar.org

The Justice Department usually issues a press release about these actions within a couple of days, so we'll be watching for the government's account.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

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Liberty Dollar Office Raided

By Gavin Lesnick
Evansville (Indiana) Courier & Press
Thursday, November 15, 2007

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/nov/15/liberty-dollar-office-raided/

The future of an Evansville-based company that produces a "private voluntary barter currency" known as the Liberty Dollar is in question after federal agents raided the facility this week, according to an e-mail sent by its founder.

Federal officials reportedly raided the group's headquarters, located in a strip mall at 225 N. Stockwell Road, early Wednesday morning and seized documents and precious metals.

FBI Agent Wendy Osborne, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Indianapolis office, directed all questions on the raid to the Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office. A spokeswoman there said she had no information on the investigation.

Bernard von NotHaus, the group's monetary architect and the author of the e-mail, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Von NotHaus developed the Liberty Dollar in 1998 as an "inflation-proof" alternative currency to the U.S. Dollar, which he has claimed has devalued since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913. The silver medallions are produced by a private mint in Idaho on behalf of Evansville-based Liberty Services, which also issues paper notes which the group says are backed by silver reserves.

Liberty Dollar employees were at the office this morning cleaning up after the raid. They referred all questions to von NotHaus.

According to the e-mail, about a dozen agents arrived Wednesday morning and seized gold, silver, platinum, and nearly two tons of recently delivered Ron Paul Dollars. They also took all the files and all the computers and froze the group's bank accounts, the e-mail said.

"We have no money. We have no products. We have no records to even know what was ordered or what you are owed," von NotHaus wrote in the e-mail, which was sent to Liberty Dollar customers. "We have nothing but the will to push forward and overcome this massive assault on our liberty and our right to have real money as defined by the US Constitution. We should not to be defrauded by the fake government money."

The e-mail said the gold and silver that backs up the paper and digital currency was confiscated, as were the dies used to mint the Liberty Dollars themselves. As a result, it warns that recent orders placed for Liberty Dollars may not be filled and it encourages supporters to band together for a class-action lawsuit.

The e-mail repeatedly defends the Liberty Dollar as legal.

"You did nothing wrong," von NotHaus wrote. "You are legally entitled to your property. Let us use this terrible act to band together and further our goal to return America to a value-based currency."

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Evansville FBI Acknowledges Liberty Dollar Raid

By Ed Haas
Muckraker Report, Ladson, South Carolina
Thursday, November 15, 2007

http://muckrakerreport.com/id550.html

According to Bernard von NotHaus, monetary architect of the Liberty Dollar, federal agents raided the Evansville, Indiana, headquarters of the Liberty Dollar at "approximately 8 a.m. this morning." In his e-mail, Von NotHaus indicated federal agents seized gold, silver, platinum, and nearly two tons of recently delivered Ron Paul Dollars.

The agents also took all files and computers and froze the organization's bank accounts, according to Von NotHaus.

Von NotHaus developed the Liberty Dollar in 1998 as an "inflation-proof" alternative to the U.S. dollar, which has drastically devalued since its inception.

The Muckraker Report contacted the Evansville, Indiana, office of the FBI to confirm the raid. According to the Evansville office, the raid occurred yesterday. The FBI agent in the Evansville office did not provide his name and referred all further questions to FBI Agent Wendy Osborne, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Indianapolis office.

Wendy Osborne directed the Muckraker Report to Suellen Pierce at the Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office. Pierce told the Muckraker Report that she had no information about the raid that was ready to be made public. When told that the Evansville FBI office confirmed the raid, frustration was detected in Pierce's voice as she explained that once information is authorized to be released to the public, she would contact the Muckraker Report.

The Muckraker Report contacted Wendy Osborne a second time in pursuit of confirmation of the Evansville FBI claim that the raid actually took place yesterday -- November 14, 2007. Osborne indicated in the second conversation that no information about the raid has been made available to the public but that as soon as she is authorized to release information regarding the raid, she would contact the Muckraker Report.

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