*It's an interesting case. Those gold coins with Ron Paul's head on 'em just passed from curio to criminal evidence.
*He wanted his show-trial against the almighty Feds and he got it.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/mar/19/local-liberty-dollar-architect-found-guilty/
The former head of an Evansville-based company that tried to introduce a currency that competed with the U.S. dollar has been found guilty of federal charges in North Carolina.
Bernard von NotHaus, 67, was convicted Friday by a federal jury of making, possessing and selling his own coins, said Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
After an eight-day trial and less than two hours of deliberation, von NotHaus, the founder and "monetary architect" of a currency known as the Liberty Dollar, was found guilty of making coins resembling and similar to United States coins; of issuing, passing, selling and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; of issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money; and of conspiracy against the United States. (((One wonders why that last charge isn't proffered more often. I mean, in an age of globalization, what ISN'T "conspiracy against the United States"?)))
Von NotHaus, who remains free on bond, faces a sentence of up to 15 years' imprisonment and a fine of not more than $250,000 on the count related to distributing the coins for use as money and a sentence of five years and fines of $250,000 on counts related to making the coins and the conspiracy charge.
The guilty verdict concluded an investigation that began in 2005 and involved the minting of Liberty Dollar coins with a current value of about $7 million.
In November 2007 federal investigators raided Liberty Dollar's headquarters at 225 N. Stockwell Road, seizing documents and precious metals.
Von NotHaus developed the liberty dollar in 1998 as an "inflation-proof" alternative currency to the U.S. dollar, which he claimed has devalued since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913....
