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Bob Bauman’s
May 2012
How to Protect Your Gold
from the Government
—Robert E. Bauman JD, Editor
Let’s start with an accepted fact: The U.S. government is desperate
to grab cash and anything else of value from Americans in almost any way
it can.
Imagine you are docilely going through the long security line at John
F. Kennedy International Airport, headed for your overnight flight to
London Heathrow. As your carry-on bag goes through the X-ray, a burly TSA
agent is called over to confer with the machine operator. He then looks
at you and says: “Please come with me, sir.”
As you are led to a small cubicle, you nervously try to think of what
you might have done wrong. While you open your bag as instructed, the
stern-faced TSA agent points to a small package and demands to know what
it contains. Inside are antique, collectible gold coins that you intend to
sell to the same British dealer from whom you bought them years ago, but
now they are worth much more.
Now the agent says: “I’m sorry, sir, I
will have to confiscate them, but I will give
you a receipt. You have the right to file an
appeal.”
You stand there dumbfounded, the whole
purpose of your journey destroyed.
Could this Happen to You?
Actually, the government is confiscating
gold left and right.
In May 2010, the Houston Chronicle
Inside This Issue
Why the Government
Wants Your Gold.... Pg 2
How to Avoid
Confiscation........ Pg 8
Transporting Precious
Coins or Metals... Pg 11
Contacts........... Pg 13
Published by The Sovereign Society®
reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents and Border
Protection officers at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport
confiscated more than $250,000 in cash and almost $160,000 in gold and
silver in 14 separate seizures from individual travelers during that one
month alone.
At the time, I checked with several precious-metal experts and none
had ever heard of government agents doing what these ICE agents did. It
was news to them – and to me. And Houston, of course, is one of many
international airports and entry and exit points in the U.S. So those
figures could be multiplied many times over.
Mark Nestmann, a longtime associate of The Sovereign Society and
author of The Lifeboat Strategy, has reported that police at Mexican
airports have also confiscated gold and silver coins from Americans
returning to the U.S.
Under U.S. civil forfeiture laws, U.S. ICE agents have virtually
unchecked power to seize any unreported currency, which forces their
victims into a lengthy and costly legal battle to prove the confiscated
cash is legally theirs. But does this power extend to gold and other
precious metals?
The short answer is yes. Big Brother’s greedy confiscation agents seem
to have expanded their powers to grab your precious metals, gold and
silver coins – and you may never get them back.
And as a measure of how far the U.S. government will go to confiscate
gold, consider the case of Joan Langford vs. U.S. Dept. of the Treasury.
In 2009, a judge ruled that the government improperly seized “double
eagle” gold coins from the 81-year-old daughter of a Philadelphia
jeweler, who found the coins in a family safe-deposit box in 2003. She
took them to the U.S. Treasury for authentication, but Treasury officials
refused to return them.
The coins, designed by famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, are among
the rarest in the world. The U.S. government minted 445,500 of them in 1933
but melted all but a few after President Roosevelt ordered that all gold be
surrendered during the Great Depression. A single coin sold for a record
$7.59 million in 2002. The government claimed that the $20 “double eagles’’
never legally left the U.S. Mint and that it was entitled to recovery of
the coins. It took a court of law to refute the government’s claim.
The point here – and the purpose behind this month’s Offshore
Confidential – is that if you possess gold or plan to acquire gold or
other precious metals, you should know how to protect your property, not
just from ordinary thieves and conmen, but from your own government!
Why the Government Wants Your Gold
To fully understand this, we need to go back in time to April 5,
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1933, when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order
6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold
Certificates within the continental United States.”
The order made it a crime punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 (the
current equivalent of about $200,000) or up to 10 years in prison, or
both, for any individual, partnership, association or corporation to
possess monetary gold. All gold was ordered to be delivered to the
Federal Reserve by May 1, 1933 in exchange for a payment of $20.67 per
troy ounce – the official value set by the government in 1834.
Once the surrender-your-gold operation was reasonably complete, the
confiscatory part occurred. The government unilaterally revalued gold
at $35 per ounce. These were the days before currencies traded on the
open market. Because currencies were fixed in value, generally in terms
of specific weights of silver and gold, Roosevelt’s action devalued the
dollar by 40%.
Roosevelt’s dictatorial order generously allowed people to retain
small amounts of gold – coins, jewelry and enough for dental fillings.
Thankfully, many Americans who owned large amounts of gold had the
foresight to quickly transfer it offshore, to countries such as
Switzerland.
Roosevelt claimed he had authority to take such radical action from
emergency powers granted in the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. He
argued that hard economic times had caused massive private “hoarding”
of gold, stalling economic growth and making the Great Depression even
worse. However, he offered no proof.
The real reason for Roosevelt’s high-handed action was that he, like
the current occupant of the White House, Barack Obama, was in desperate
need of cash to meet government debts – and not just cash, but gold.
History Repeats Itself
To finance U.S. participation in World War I, Congress at the time
issued a series of debentures known as “Liberty Bonds” starting in 1917,
payable in gold at a rate of $20.67 per troy ounce. By 1933, the Treasury
had only $4.2 billion in gold and the total Liberty Bond debt was $22
billion – not even enough to pay the interest owed to bond holders.
As President Richard Nixon did years later, FDR ordered a default on
the domestic-held debt by refusing to redeem the bonds to American bond
holders – and in the process devalued the dollar by 40% against foreign
currency exchange. This allowed the U.S. Treasury to make a partial
payment in gold and maintain foreign exchange with U.S. foreign trade
partners, all the while stiffing U.S. bond holders.
If we price gold at the present-day value of about $1,650 per troy
ounce, the total loss to American investors of the 1933 devaluation was
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approximately $700 billion dollars. The overall result of this blatant,
intentional default only served to intensify the Great Depression, call
into serious question U.S. government financial reliability and reduce
international trade, which ultimately contributed to fomenting World
War II.
When a federal judge ruled a year later that Roosevelt’s gold grab
had been illegal, the Secretary of the Treasury signed a new order.
Congress approved the order by adopting the Gold Reserve Act in 1934,
which made gold clauses in private contracts unenforceable and devalued
the dollar. That price of $35 per ounce of gold remained in effect
until 1971, when Nixon announced the U.S. would no longer convert
dollars to gold at a fixed value, thus abandoning the gold standard for
foreign exchange.
Nixon closed the “gold window,” under which foreign nations had the
right to exchange U.S. dollars for gold after the U.K. tried to redeem $3
billion in U.S. gold, as it had a right to do.
So large were the official American foreign dollar debts that
U.S. gold stocks couldn’t meet the official demands for gold at the
convertibility price of $35 per ounce. Nixon chose to default and America
lost its last link to the gold standard.
Today, it is legal for Americans to own gold. The limitation on gold
ownership in the U.S. was repealed when President Gerald Ford signed
Public Law 93-373, legalizing private ownership of gold coins, bars and
certificates effective on December 31, 1974.
Why We Should Save this Precious Yellow Metal
There was a time when investors, foreign and domestic, believed
that the U.S. government’s promise to pay its debts was a safe
investment. That general belief made it easier for Washington to
borrow billons.
The 2008-2010 financial crises accelerated already declining confidence
in the economic reliability of the U.S. government. With a ballooning $15
trillion national debt, a $3 trillion annual budget deficit, a sinking
dollar value, a politically constipated U.S. Congress and a freespending president, prudent people who look for hard value have found it
in history – gold.
Foreign and domestic investors want “safer” investments that have
real value… and gold and other precious metals are the answer.
Think about it. Gold cannot be inflated by printing more. It cannot
be devalued by government decree – the free market dictates the price.
And, unlike paper currency or investments in stocks and bonds, gold is an
asset which doesn’t depend on anybody’s promise to repay.
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Although gold has been mined for more than 6,000 years, only about
120,000 metric tons have been produced. New gold mined each year totals
less than 2,000 metric tons, about the size of the living room in a
small modern house. Gold remains one of the scarcest and most soughtafter metals on earth.
Time and again, gold has proven the successful hedge against
devaluation of an investor’s national currency. It’s one of the few
investments that survives, even thrives, during times of economic
uncertainty.
For those who in recent years followed The Sovereign Society’s
repeated advice to buy gold, the investment has paid off handsomely.
Jeff Opdyke, the editor of The Sovereign Individual, wrote recently in
The Sovereign Investor: “Until American politicians fashion an honest
plan to reorganize our economically bankrupt nation, the dollar will
continue falling in value against the only true money that remains –
gold.”
Jeff explains that what every financial commentator “thinks is a bull
market in gold is really a bear market in currencies. Gold isn’t moving
in value. It is stationary, like the sun, with all other assets – most
importantly, the dollar – revolving around it.”
Many currencies, including the greenback, are heading down relative
to gold, because Western politicians are incompetent at managing their
economies, while central bankers imprudently flood the world with
increasingly worthless paper.
But as long as central banks continue their global assault on
currencies, gold is the only money on which you can rely to preserve your
purchasing power and your sovereignty.
Can the Government Legally Steal My Gold?
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America understood
clearly that private property is the foundation not only of prosperity,
but of freedom itself. Thus, through the common law, state laws, the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights they protected property rights –
the rights of people to freely acquire, use and dispose of their own
property.
But with the seemingly unlimited growth of modern government,
property rights have been seriously compromised.
The U.S. Constitution protects property rights mainly through the
Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause or Just Compensation Clause that states:
“…nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation.”
The amendment lists two basic ways government can take property:
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• outright, by condemning the property and taking the title; and
• through so-called regulatory takings.
The Constitution says nothing about government confiscation of
property. So how does the federal government confiscation of gold and
other precious metals square with the constitutional rights of the owners
from whom they are taken?
The answer is that it doesn’t, and raises a serious constitutional
issue.
There is yet another method by which the government robs Americans
of their property – by trillions of dollars of debt, deficit spending and
other inflationary policies that diminish the value of the dollar. This
is one of the major reasons why ownership of gold is so important as a
hedge against this constant loss of value in increasingly worthless paper
currency.
Can President Obama confiscate your gold? The answer is a very definite
yes! The president does have that power under existing law.
Mark Nestmann has done a great deal of research on the emergency
powers of the U.S. president. In The Lifeboat Strategy, he points
to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),
which authorizes the president to employ emergency economic powers.
In conjunction with the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act, Roosevelt
used in 1933, IEEPA allows the president to exercise control over
international economic transactions during any period of declared
national emergency.
In the event of an “unusual or extraordinary threat” to the U.S.
economy that exists “in whole or in substantial part outside the United
States,” this act authorizes the president to “…require licenses
for any activity; require anyone to keep and furnish any records;
and investigate, regulate, direct, compel, nullify, void, prevent,
or prohibit any transaction, acquisition, holding, use, transfer,
withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation, dealing, or
exercising any right, power or privilege with respect to any property.”
[Emphasis added by me.]
Persons violating any IEEPA proclamation are subject to civil fines of
$250,000 per violation, or twice the amount of the transaction upon which
the penalty is imposed. Maximum criminal penalties for willful violations
are a $1 million fine and a 20-year prison sentence.
One of the first uses of the IEEPA came in 1979, after Islamic
fundamentalists took power in Iran and held hostage more than 50
employees of the U.S. embassy. Using this law, President Jimmy Carter
seized more than $12 billion of Iranian assets. Since then, presidents
have used the IEEPA to seize property or impose trade restrictions
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against Cuba, Nicaragua, South Africa, Libya, Panama, Iraq, the former
Yugoslavia, Haiti, Angola and Serbia.
In 1981, the Supreme Court gave broad approval to the IEEPA,
concluding that the president can invoke emergency economic powers
without a declaration of war or any other statutory authority. (Dames &
Moore vs. Regan.)
The civil forfeiture authority of IEEPA is exempted from virtually
all of the evidentiary and due process requirements otherwise required
under federal law. Enforcement is done administratively without a court
hearing and the owner of the seized assets must prove that the property
isn’t subject to confiscation. All property owned by the target of an
IEEPA forfeiture may be seized, not just property associated with alleged
illegal activity. The targeted person or entity only has the right to
seek “administrative reconsideration” through the Treasury Department. No
appeal to any court is possible.
In 2004, the Supreme Court refused to review a lower court decision
upholding this draconian procedure. (Holy Land Foundation vs. Ashcroft.)
In a letter from Sean M. Thornton to Chris Powell on August 12, 2005,
the U.S. Treasury Department declared it has the authority under the
IEEPA to seize or freeze any “financial instrument.” All it needs is a
presidential proclamation of a national emergency.
Thus, under the IEEPA, the president can order the confiscation of any
document or paper that has intrinsic value or embodies monetary value
including stocks, bonds, bank accounts, mortgages, cash and precious
metals.
The only questions are if and when the president will issue such an
emergency proclamation.
Smart people won’t wait for answers before they act to protect their
gold or other precious metals.
And might it not be a good idea to convert some of those value-losing
dollars into something – gold – that does have real value?
What happens if President Obama imitates the semi-dictatorship of
President Franklin Roosevelt and orders Americans to surrender gold and
other precious metals? There has already been talk – a Democrat-led
congressional hearing on nationalizing all private IRAs and pensions, and
the pending Obama-care law that seeks to federalize the entire American
health care system.
How would the U.S. government enforce an order against Americans who
failed to repatriate precious metals from Switzerland or any other place
back to the U.S.? Would Americans who failed to comply with such an order
be held in contempt of court and jailed?
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In the event of a presidential confiscation order, precious metals
held outside the U.S. would almost certainly be subject to seizure, but
they would be difficult to find – although failing to report them might be
a new crime.
How to Avoid Confiscation
Owning physical gold and silver in the form of coins and bullion will
allow you to conserve your purchasing power as paper money continues to
lose its value. But gold and silver should be held in a diversified way.
And if you are a U.S. resident, for true safety, real peace of mind
and added asset protection, you should keep at least some of your gold
and silver offshore.
There are many ways to invest in gold and the World Gold Council
explains these in detail on its website. If you are new to gold, you
should review this information.
According to industry specialists Gold Bars Worldwide, there are 110
accredited bar manufacturers and brands in 28 countries. Between them,
they produce a total of more than 500 types of standard gold bars, all of
which contain a minimum of 99.5% fine gold.
There also are many gold bullion coin dealers.
Gold Eagles, along with all other forms of gold bullion are
considered collectibles. If you’ve held them for more than one year,
your gains are taxed at your marginal tax bracket. For collectibles, the
maximum rate is 28%.
The 1985 legislation that authorized production of the coins now
known as gold and silver Eagles, stipulates that these coins are to be
considered “numismatic items.” But they are not specifically exempted from
any future government confiscation of gold. The terms of the emergency
order President Roosevelt issued in 1933 specifically exempted “gold
coins having recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual
coins.” However, just because Roosevelt exempted them 79 years ago does
not mean that any future government order will follow suit. Nevertheless,
telemarketers promoting old U.S. gold coins perpetuate this myth because
it makes it easier for them to jack up the price of coins.
Finally, there’s one additional benefit to buying gold and silver
Eagles. Unlike other forms of gold or silver bullion, you can purchase
them through your Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Gains are tax
deferred until you withdraw money from the IRA.
Are Offshore Precious Metals Reportable?
A major plus in establishing an offshore bank or investment account,
offshore trust or any offshore financial arrangement is that these
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operations are outside the immediate jurisdiction of the U.S. government
and courts, both state and federal.
Yes, a determined IRS agent or a plaintiff’s attorney can use
international procedures and treaties to eventually reach offshore
assets, but not without a great deal of trouble and cost. That offshore
distance often discourages legal pursuit or encourages settlements of
claims on more reasonable grounds.
If you go to the trouble of buying or storing gold or other precious
metals offshore, the first consideration you want is maximum privacy. Under
current U.S. law, especially the PATRIOT Act, financial privacy within
America is dead. The alternative is to buy and store gold offshore.
But must you report precious metals held offshore to the U.S.
government? The answer is no – if you make proper arrangements.
Under current U.S. reporting laws and rules, offshore ownership by
U.S. persons of precious metals titled directly in an individual’s name
does not have to be reported either to the IRS under the Foreign Account
Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) or the U.S. Treasury’s Report of Foreign Bank
and Financial Accounts(FBAR). If, however, the title of the precious
metals is held in the name of a legal entity, such as a corporation under
your control, they must be reported.
The other factor determining reporting is the offshore location of
your gold or precious metals.
If they are held as a service of your offshore bank or financial
institution, as in a bank-provided safe-deposit box, they are reportable.
If they are not held as part of a bank account, but in a non-bank vault or
storage company, they are not reportable – but be careful of the distinction.
You must be cautious concerning the FBAR report. Under rules now in
effect, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network wants U.S. persons to
report “an account with a person that is in the business of accepting
deposits as a financial agency.”
A financial agency is defined as “a person acting for a person as a
financial institution bailor, depository trustee, or agent, or acting
in a similar way related to money, credit, securities, gold, or in a
transaction in money, credit, securities, or gold.”
If you buy gold offshore and pay a custodian a fee to watch over it,
under the above FBAR text, the custodian is probably acting as a financial
agency. But if the gold is in a private vault facility to which only you
have access, this is not reportable.
Overseas Private Vault Services
In recent years, a chilling threat has emerged to safe-deposit box
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holders and their property — the government.
In 2008, British police used false evidence of illegal activities to
obtain a warrant authorizing massive police raids on three London area
safe-deposit companies. They claimed authority to do so by the Proceeds
of Crime Act of 2002. Under this law, police can automatically assume
that valuables and cash valued above £1,000 ($1,600) are the proceeds of
crime, unless the owner can prove otherwise.
American safe-deposit box holders are also in peril. There have been
no known U.S. police raids of this scale on safe-deposit boxes. But
since the passage of the 2001 PATRIOT Act, personal and financial privacy
invasions have become endemic in the United States.
While the PATRIOT Act does not specifically refer to safe-deposit
boxes, it does give U.S. government agents broad powers to access an
individual’s bank records and freeze assets, all done in secret. (It is a
crime for a bank officer to inform the person under investigation.)
Moreover, U.S. civil forfeiture laws allow police to confiscate
cash, bank accounts and any other property based on mere suspicion of
crime. As in the U.K., the American owner must prove innocence to get
the property back, a costly legal process (minimum legal fees $15,000)
that can take years. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service can also gain
warrantless access to a domestic U.S. safe-deposit box when it freezes
a person’s assets.
A solution is to rent a safe-deposit box at a foreign non-bank
private vault in Switzerland or Austria.
Many offshore banks offer safe-deposit boxes for private custody of
cash, securities, diamonds, gemstones, gold bullion and other precious
metals. However, this usually is as an associated service that goes along
with an actual bank account, which is reportable to the IRS.
Most offshore banks require you to open an account before renting a
box. If the account’s value exceeds $10,000 during the calendar year, you
have to declare it. A better alternative to consider for safekeeping is a
non-bank private vault.
Since private vaults are not financial institutions, they are subject
to fewer record-keeping and disclosure requirements. As such, a vault
safe-deposit box does not require you to file a FBAR or FATCA form.
Vaults permit anonymous safekeeping arrangements and they honor Power of
Attorney arrangements.
To avoid having to make a personal visit to your safe-deposit box
every time you wish to add or remove valuables, you can give a local
offshore attorney or other trusted intermediary a limited Power of
Attorney to perform this function for you.
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If you want to move a large quantity of precious metals valued at,
say, $50,000, it is best to engage the services of a courier. In the
past, insured shipments of precious metals were accepted by FedEx and the
U.S. Postal Service via registered mail, but now FedEx limits coverage to
$500 and the U.S. Postal Service limits to $45.51. Similar restrictions
or outright prohibitions on the transport of precious metals are in
effect at DHL, UPS and Purolator.
Transporting Coins or Precious Metals
As mentioned earlier, serious problems can arise when gold or silver
coins (or any precious metals) are transported personally out of the U.S.
to other countries by auto, airplane, boat or public transportation – or
the reverse, when entering the U.S.
Because of the confiscations that already have occurred, I urge you
not to travel with precious metals in any form, including coins.
Any border crossing with more than $10,000 or more in U.S. dollars
or foreign equivalent in any form must be reported on U.S. Customs
Declaration Form 6059B. If you’re moving U.S.-issued gold or silver
coins, some advisors claim that you need to declare only the face
value; $50 for a one-ounce gold Eagle, for instance, but that may cause
trouble. Your friendly Homeland Security Administration agent isn’t
likely to be terribly sympathetic to this argument, and just might
seize your coins.
Also, when you arrive in your intended foreign country you may face
another Customs gauntlet. However, if you declare the gold as “cash,”
you’ll hopefully be permitted to proceed.
If you must personally carry coins, my advice is to contact the
nearest office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, well
ahead of travel, and explain what you propose to do and ask them how you
can conform to the law. You should ask for and receive a written response
so that you can show it if questioned by ICE agents. Also ask Customs if
you need to notify them of your date and departure flight as a precaution
against the very real possibility that a local Customs agent at the
airport may not know the rules that cover this situation.
You will need to complete and bring with you a Census Bureau Form
7525-V, Shipper’s Export Declaration. This form is required for exported
commodities with a value exceeding $2,500. At current silver and gold
prices, many coins would exceed this reporting threshold. Failure to file
this declaration can result in seizure. The consequences for stating
incorrect information are severe, including confiscation. They may also
result in a fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment.
If you have difficulty dealing with the U.S. Customs office, call the
office of your local Member of the U.S. House of Representatives or one of
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your U.S. Senators and ask for their assistance. They should be pleased
to help you.
There probably will be reporting formalities and Customs duties
payable when you enter a foreign country. Most require you to fill out,
sign and submit Customs Declarations upon entry, asking if you are
importing currency or the equivalent. You should contact your destination
country’s embassy or consulate here in the U.S. to determine how they
deal with silver and gold imports or exports.
Don’t give them any definitive identification or travel information in
case they put you on a travelers watch list.
If you intend to import gold or silver coins from offshore, it is
advisable to hire a U.S. customs broker in advance of your travel. The
customs broker can appraise the value of the coins and arrange for
payment of the foreign country’s Customs or other goods and services
taxes. Your local FedEx or UPS office can advise you about how to contact
customs brokers in your area.
Of course, you should also bring with you proof of your ownership of
specific coins or precious metals, as well as a statement of appraised
value from a recognized appraiser.
Important Certificates
Buying precious-metal certificates is one of the easiest ways to
purchase precious metals offshore, although it may be a reportable
account. You can buy them in the United States and have the metals stored
offshore in your name. You receive a certificate indicating the quantity
of metals you’ve purchased, and (if allocated), a list of your specific
holdings.
If you purchase metals, you need to know the differences between
“allocated” and “unallocated” storage. Allocated storage means that
specific coins or bars are set aside for you. Unallocated storage means
that you have an ownership interest in precious metals that may not
necessarily be readily on hand. Unallocated storage is less expensive,
but also may entail greater risk if the seller becomes insolvent and is
unable to deliver the metals it has credited to your account.
This purchase method avoids local taxes and often lets you buy at a
more favorable price. There’s also no need for an assay when you sell.
If you opt for allocated storage, you can take delivery of your metals
anytime, or you can allocate your unallocated metals and take delivery.
In one the best known certificate programs offered by the Perth Mint
in Australia, unallocated storage is backed by a government guarantee.
The government of Western Australia guarantees that the unallocated
metals held by purchasers of a Perth Mint Certificate are 100% backed by
physical metals. Asset Strategies International in Rockville, Maryland
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can assist with Perth Mint Certificates and other precious metals
questions.
The Easiest Way to Buy and Store Gold Offshore
Perhaps the easiest way to secure gold and other precious metals
offshore is to purchase them from an offshore source and store them with
a recognized vault service overseas such as Mats in Zurich or Das Vault
in Vienna.
If you already have a bank account in Zurich or Vienna, this process
can be relatively simple with the transfer of funds to your account in
either city. The banks can arrange for purchase and storage at Mats or
Das Vault.
If you do not yet have bank accounts in either city, The Sovereign
Society can arrange with members of our Council of Experts in Zurich and
Vienna to open bank accounts and, in turn, the banks will oversee gold
purchases and storage.
While this may take some months because of compliance requirements,
these formalities can be handled as a matter of routine, even for
American clients. At current prices, an investment of $1 million should
produce about 20 kilos of gold.
With our country’s current financial mess, investing in gold is one of
the smartest choices you can make.
And no matter how you choose to invest and store your gold, one thing
is for certain: Make sure your gold is located outside of the U.S. When
the administration tries to confiscate your wealth, you’ll be prepared.
Contacts
International Transport & Storage Services
DAS SAFE
Auerspergstrasse 1, A-1080
Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 406 61 74
Email: info@dassafe.com
Website: http://www.dassafe.com/
Under the Austrian Banking Act, Das Safe, established in 1984,
is supervised by the Financial Market Authority (FMA) and the
Oesterreichische National Bank (OeNB).
Fees at Das Safe start at €330 ($462) a year for the smallest non-
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anonymous box. The annual fee for the smallest anonymous box is €420
($588). There is a 20% tax on fees, and insurance is available. Much
larger boxes and mini-vaults are also available. The rent includes
$90,000 insurance coverage and additional coverage is available at €36
($50) for each additional €70,000 ($98,000) of value insured.
As with banks, contents of a safe-deposit box or private vault are
usually not insured against theft or loss. You can buy insurance but you
must disclose the assets and their location to the insurer. Both of the above
vaults offer insurance. For this reason, you may wish to purchase insurance
through Das Safe itself, rather than your domestic insurance carrier.
For the greatest privacy and the ability to move your valuables the
furthest away from the grasp of those who covet them, a vault safedeposit box with Das Safe in Austria offers the maximum protection.
MAT SECURITAS EXPRESS AG
Steinackerstrasse 49 | CH-8302 Kloten, Switzerland
Tel: +41 43 488 9000
Email: mse@viamat.com
Web: http://www.viamat.com/mse/en/index.php
Via Mat International is part of Mat Securitas Express, of
Switzerland, one of Europe’s largest and oldest armored transport and
storage companies. For 60 years, Via Mat has specialized in international
valuables logistics and storage, transport and insurance. Its Zurich
Airport facility is in a tax-free zone and offers domicile-to-domicile
deliveries to all important financial centers, storage for valuable
goods in a customs-free warehouse, customs clearance of shipments and
monitoring of transits.
Via Mat charges about $1,400 to transport $100,000 worth of gold
coins from the west coast of the United States to the company’s storage
facility in Zurich. Extra charges apply for pickup and delivery to a
non-Via Mat facility. They will also handle your customs declaration
with customs authorities in both the United States and your destination
country.
Brink’s Global Services
1801 Bayberry Ct., P.O. Box 18100
Richmond, VA 23226-8100, USA
Tel: +1 (804) 289-9600
Email: Corporate.relations@brinksinc.com
Web: http://www.brinksglobal.com/
Brink’s Global Services (London)
Arnold House, 36/41 Holywell Lane
London, EC2A 3LB UK
Tel: +44 207 377 8101
Fax: +44 207 377 8137
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Brink’s Asia Pacific
Room 5507-10, 55th Floor, Hopewell Centre
183 Queen’s Road East
Wanchai, HONG KONG
Tel: (852) 2821 6800
Fax: (852) 2821 6850
Brink’s EMEA S.A.S.
58, rue de la Victoire
75009 Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 07 99 20
Fax: +33 (0) 1 55 07 99 21
Brinks Precious Metals service includes daily reporting, full
liability of stock and management throughout the chain, preparation of
shipments with designated instructions, including industry-standard
weigh-ins, collection letters of credit, storage, acceptance and release
of shipment upon receipt of formal instructions and facilities for third
party inspection and assaying. For information and specific countries
visit www.brinksglobal.com.
Via Mat International
Web: http://www.viamat.com/vmi/index.php
Global valuables and semi-valuables transportation: Because shipments
of valuables are linked to higher risks, it is especially important to
use a dependable transportation company and find short transportation
routes. You can rely on our well established know-how. We know the
safest flight routes, the fastest connections and convey valuables under
the safest security standards. Delivery from the airport to its final
destination is conducted exclusively by officially recognized and examined
security carrier companies. Other offices are located in Switzerland,
United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Dubai.
Via Mat International (USA) Inc.
130 Sheridan Blvd.
Inwood, NY 11096
Tel: +1 718 868 1500
Fax: +1 718 868 1181
E-Mail: vmi.newyork@viamat.com
Via Mat International (USA) Inc.
5777 West Century Blvd., Suite 1255
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Tel: +1 310 568 8660
Fax: +1 310 568 8886
E-Mail: vmi.losangeles@viamat.com
Via Mat International (USA) Inc.
1315 NW 98 Court, Unit 5
Miami, FL 33172
15
Tel: +1 305 513 2600
Fax:+1 305 436 6060
E-Mail: vmi.miami@viamat.com
Dunbar
World Headquarters
50 Schilling Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21031
Tel: 1.800.888.212
Email: clientservices@dunbararmored.com
Web: http://www.dunbararmored.com/jewelry-commodities-industry-securetransportation-service.php
Dunbar Global Logistics specializes in providing first-class service
in the secure armored transport logistics of precious metals, diamonds,
gems and more.
Publisher........................................Erika Nolan
Editor......................................Bob Bauman JD
Managing Editor........................Mark S. Smith
Graphic Designer......................... Bruce Borich
Bob Bauman’s Offshore Confidential is published 12 times per year for $495 by The Sovereign Society
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