Text from the complaint:

In The Liberty Dollar . . . (p. 20-21), paying for goods and services with Liberty Dollars is described by von NotHaus as follows: When the FRN are mixed with the American Liberty Dollar coins, the acceptance rate is nearly 100%. I’ve only been refused once out of hundreds of transactions. Second, when I get to the cashier, I say “I have the paper, [show them the FRN cash], but I would like to pay with silver. I then drop the $10 American Liberty Dollar coins in the cashier’s hand. Then wait…. When they ask “is it real?” I always answer: “Yes, ounce of silver, 10 dollars.” Let them look at it as long as they like. . . If they ask, “Where did you get it?” my first answer is “From a friend who collects them, but I like to spend them.” Smile. This lets the know it’s inherently valuable and that people collect them and some people spend them, in just one sentence. It also lets them know that you’re not crazy to spend this money and there are others doing it too.

Once again… like that bully on the beach trying to impress some girls, the Federal Government has kicked sand into the face of the Liberty Dollar organization. On June 29 the Government took action in the form of a civil forfeiture complaint filed in US District Court in Asheville NC. The monster sized seizure (see below) of precious metal, copper, Liberty Dollars and even the dies used to create the beautiful medallions, might just be on the way to the auction block. Proceeds to go into Uncle Sam’s pocket. Translation for all those involved, and I’m not happy to say this, but it looks like “you’ve seen the last of your property”.

This is a real injustice to see a great mind like Bernard von Nothaus and his Liberty Dollar organization dragged across the hot coals. Bernard has done more to enlighten the country about the evils of a debt ridden government than most colleges across America.

“Use real money, silver & gold was the message for years and years”. I remember and associate, “The Liberty Dollar, right….real silver, real value.”

Debt can be a very bad cancer and it’s now quickly killing off a good part of America. This is what most know about the Liberty Dollar. In dozens of interviews with Digital Money Industry people, many of them have recounted their positive enlightening experiences with Bernard and how his Liberty Dollar message changed their views on the dollar.

Fortunately, the recent complaint by the government has been delayed for the next six months.  It was stayed for six months pending the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI (see below). Around the next Christmas holiday expect some additional news.

From the Liberty Dollar’s most recent alert you can read the entire 52 page big ugly complaint (.pdf), or there is a brief summary below. Almost 5,000 people have signed on to the legal action to advance the return of their estimated $3.5 million in seized property. For more information or to sign on to help, please visit the Liberty Dollar web site.

U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina (Asheville), CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 1:08-cv-00230-LHT-DLH

Summary of Seized Goods

• 3039.375 Pounds of Copper Coins; (Commemorating Ron Paul)
• 5930.32 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins;
• 63.24 Troy Ounces of Gold Coins;
• 3 Platinum Coins;
• 168,599 Silver Troy Ounce Coins;
• 147 Gold Troy Ounce Coins;
• 710 Silver .5 Troy Ounce Coins;
• 11 Silver Bars and Silver Scrap Totaling 10,720.60 Troy Ounces;
• 1000.5 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins;
• 1000.5 Troy Ounces of Silver Coins;
• Dies, Molds, Casts;
• 16,000.05 Troy Ounces of Raw Silver;
• 100 Ounces of Copper Coins;
• $254,424.09 in United States Currency;
• 17 Gold .05 Troy Ounce Coins.

A partial summary of information and background from the complaint (The Government’s Action) is below. Please note that no formal charges have been filed against anyone, no one has been arrested, indicted or lynched (yet). The government has shown that there is today an on going criminal investigation related to the facts alleged in this civil forfeiture action (below in no particular order).

2006 Warning by United States Mint

• On September 14, 2006, the United States Mint issued a press release and warning to American citizens that the American Liberty Dollar was “not legal tender.” The Mint stated that the Department of Justice had determined that the use of Liberty Dollars as circulating money was a federal crime.
• The FBI supplied the Mint with the names and addresses of known regional currency officers of NORFED , and the Mint mailed copies of the press release directly to those officers.
• NORFED, and its officers, members, and associates, has continued to circulate the American Liberty Dollar in commerce since September 14, 2006.
• On November 11, 2006, at a meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bernard von NotHaus stated that the warning from the United States Mint was wrong and that Liberty Dollar activities were lawful.
• On March 24, 2007, at a Liberty Dollar meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bernard von NotHaus criticized the United States Mint’s September 14, 2006, press release and warning about the Liberty Dollar.

Defendant Properties are Subject to Forfeiture

• The defendant properties are subject to forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(A), because is constitutes property involved in transactions and attempted transactions in violation of sections 1956 and 1957 of Title 18, United States Code, or property traceable to such property.
• The defendant properties are subject to forfeiture under 18 U.S.C, § 981(a)(1)(C), 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7), and 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1), because it is property which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the offenses of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and wire fraud,
• The defendant properties are subject to forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 492 because it is counterfeit of coins and obligations and other securities of the United States; because it is coins of gold, silver, and other metals or alloys thereof, made, passed, and uttered and intended to be made, passed and uttered, intended for use as current money of the United States and in resemblance of coins of the United States and of original design; and because it is article, devices, and other things made, possessed, or used in violation of Chapter 25, Title 18, United States Code, including 18 U.S.C. §§ 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 485, 486, 487, and 489, and materials and apparatuses used or fitted or intended to be used , in the making of such counterfeits, articles, devices or things, without authority from the Secretary of the Treasury.
• U.S.C. § 1343, and the offenses of conspiracies, under 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and 18 U.S.C. § 371, to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.
• Upon information and belief, the following persons may have or claim an interest in the defendant properties: Bernard von NotHaus, William William Kevin Innes, and Sarah Bledsoe, Liberty Merchants, Liberty Associates.
• By virtue of the foregoing, all right, title, and interest in the defendant properties vested in the United States at the time of the commission of the unlawful act giving rise to forfeiture, 18 U.S.C. § 981(f), and has become and is forfeitable to the United States of America.

Circulation of the American Liberty Dollar

• In 2002, there was over $3 million worth of Liberty Dollars in circulation in the United States, 30,000 users and literally thousands of merchants who accepted and offered the Liberty Dollar in change.
• On November 16, 2005, William Kevin Innes stated that there were sixty-five official Liberty Dollar merchants in the Asheville, North Carolina, area.
• On October 20, 2005, Bernard von NotHaus told the attendees that there were approximately $15,000,000 worth of Liberty Dollars in circulation in the United States.
• On October 27, 2006, William Kevin Innes stated that there were eighty-five to ninety Liberty Merchants in the Asheville, North Carolina, area.
• On October 25, 2006, the regional currency officer of Skokie, Illinois, stated that there were twenty-nine Liberty Merchants in the vicinity of Skokie.
• On November 11, 2006, Bernard von NotHaus stated that there were twenty million American Liberty Dollars in circulation in the United States.
• On October 20, 2005, during a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Fletcher, Buncombe County, North Carolina, Bernard von NotHaus and William William Kevin Times stated that the three largest communities using the Liberty Dollar were, Austin, Texas; Berryville, Arkansas; and Asheville, North Carolina.
• On October 27, 2006, while speaking at a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Skokie, Illinois, William Kevin Innes spoke about how to market the Liberty Dollar in communities, and in particular, how he marketed the Liberty Dollar in Asheville, North Carolina.

Factual Basis and Probable Cause for Forfeiture

• NORFED, the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Codes, together with its officers, members, associates, and customers, (collectively NORFED), was founded by Bernard von NotHaus in 1998 and carried out its operations and activities from 1998 until the present date.
• On or about 2007, NORFED was renamed Liberty Dollar Services, Inc. It is also known as the Liberty Dollar and American Liberty Dollar.
• Bernard von NotHaus is the president of NORFED, the “monetary architect,” and the Executive Director of Liberty Dollar Services, Inc. He is also the Regional Currency Officer in Evansville, Indiana. Von NotHaus is also a member of the NORFED Executive Committee.
• William Kevin Inns is the Asheville, North Carolina, Regional Currency Officer for NORFED and one of three members of the NORFED Executive Committee.
• NORFED has minted its American Liberty Dollar coins at the Sunshine Mint in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and has members and associates in at least thirty states.

The main office, also known as the NORFED Fulfillment Office, of NORFED is in Evansville, Indiana. The main office contracts for the printing and minting of American Liberty Dollars, receives orders and monetary payments in United States currency for American Liberty Dollars, distributes materials, distributes American Liberty Dollar currency, and organizes the American Liberty Dollar University. The Liberty Dollar website, www.libertvdollar.org, is serviced and maintained at the main office.

Purpose and Use of the American Liberty Dollar

• Since 1998, NORFED has been issuing and disseminating the American Liberty Dollar (Liberty Dollar) in all its forms throughout the United States.
• The American Liberty Dollar is intended by NORFED to be a circulating currency used to purchase and be in exchange for goods and services.
• The purpose of NORFED and the American Liberty Dollar is to mix Liberty Dollars into the current money of the United States.
• NORFED intends the Liberty Dollar to be used as current money in order to limit reliance on and to compete with Federal Reserve Notes.
• On October 10, 2006, at a meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, William Kevin Imes stated that the NORFED was putting “money into circulation.”
• The American Liberty Dollar a.k.a. Liberty Dollar (ALD), exists in three forms; coins, paper currency called warehouse receipts, and eLiberty Dollars (Digital Dollars).
• Currently and since at least 2002, NORFED has had a current publication, signed and authored by von NotHaus, entitled The Liberty Dollar, America’s Inflation Proof Currency, 100% Backed and Redeemable in Gold and Silver (The Liberty Dollar).
• The Liberty Dollar is “direct competition” to the current money of the United States, “free market currency”, “is meant to be spent”, designed to be “in commerce.”
• “The Liberty Dollar is not an investment. It pays no interest, no return, nor promises any appreciation” and the Currency is not sold. It is exchanged for those dreaded Federal Reserve Notes.”
• “ALD’s are not notes,” that is, debt instruments, “NORFED is not a bank”, “The Liberty Dollar is NOT an investment. It is a currency” and the Liberty Dollar is not an investment in “silver bullion.”
• On March 24, 2007, at a Liberty Dollar meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bernard von NotHaus stated that the Liberty Dollar was not a “numismatic item.”
• On October 26, 2006, at a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Skokie, Illinois, Bernard von NotHaus stated the Liberty Dollar is not marketed as an investment.
• At the same session, Bernard von NotHaus stated that NORFED was marketing a currency, not a commodity. He said that Liberty Dollars are exchanged, not sold.

Resemblance of American Liberty Dollar Warehouse Receipts to Obligations and Securities. of the United States

• NORFED prints American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts in the denominations of one, five, ten, and twenty dollars. Exhibit 2.
• American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts are imprinted with the word “dollar” or “dollars” and with the symbol, “$”.
• American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts are imprinted with the Statue of Liberty.
• American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts are imprinted with “Trust in God”.
• American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts are imprinted with “Redeemable by Bearer on Demand”.
• American Liberty Dollar warehouse receipts are imprinted “Negotiable.”

Forms of the American Liberty Dollar

• The America Liberty Dollar currency is available in three forms: coins, warehouse receipts, and eLiberty Dollars (Digital Liberty Dollars) (electronic Liberty Dollars).
• There are five primary coins issued, exchanged, and circulated by NORFED: one dollar, five dollar, ten dollar, twenty dollar, and fifty dollar.
• Warehouse Receipts are the American Liberty Dollar paper currency,
• NORFED states that the warehouse receipts are 100% backed by silver.
• Warehouse receipts are imprinted with “redeemable by bearer on demand” and “negotiable.”
• ELiberty Dollars are online accounts that provide for the purchase and transfer of American Liberty Dollar currency among NORFED members, including Regional Currency Officers, Associates, and Merchants.
• NORFED states that the eLiberty Dollars receipts are 100% backed by silver.

Members and Persons Involved

• There are four levels of membership or participation in NORFED.
• The first is a regional marketer called a Regional Currency Officer (RCO). Regional Currency Officers pay an annual fee to obtain a region where they are responsible for the selling and distributing of the American Liberty Dollar and for recruiting Liberty Dollar Associates and Liberty Dollar Merchants
• The next level of participation or membership is the Liberty Dollar Associate, A Liberty Dollar Associate pays $250.00 for membership. The Associate receives $100.00 in American Liberty Dollars, that is, coins and warehouse receipts, information about and access to eLiberty Dollars, and a packet of information. The Associate can then purchase American Liberty Dollars currency at a discounted rate from their Regional Currency Officer or from the NORFED website.
• The referring person, normally another Associate or Regional Currency Officer, also receives a profit of $100.00 in American Liberty Dollar currency.
• NORFED keeps $50.00 of the membership fee.
• The third level of membership is the Merchant. These Merchants accept American Liberty Dollar currency as payment for goods and services at the face value of the American Liberty Dollar currency or at a dollar-to-dollar value with Federal Reserve Notes (FRN). The Merchant can also purchase the American Liberty Dollar currency at a discount from NORFED and pass it as change to make a profit.
• The Regional Currency Officer and Associate make a profit for each sale to a lower echelon member of the scheme.
• At the Merchant member signs an agreement with the Regional Currency Officer and receives a discounted rate on the purchase of American Liberty Dollar currency. The focus of the Regional Currency Officers and the Associates is to sign up as many Merchants as possible in their region. The Merchants then purchase the American Liberty Dollar currency from the Regional Currency Officer or the Associate. The American Liberty Dollar currency is marketed to the Merchant as a way to make a profit by making change for customers.
• The Liberty Merchant Handbook, published in and in use by NORFED since 2003, describes the role and activities of Liberty Merchants in NORFED.
• In The Liberty Merchant Handbook (p. 5), it is stated that a Liberty Merchant must agree “to accept Liberty currency when presented” and “agree to offer Liberty currency as change whenever possible.”
• In The Liberty Merchant Handbook (p. 14), it is stated that Liberty Merchants make a profit by giving Liberty Dollars “out in change.”
• The fourth level of participation is the customer or purchaser.
• Some purchasers from a Merchant have knowingly accepted the American Liberty Dollar as change in a purchase.
• Thinking that they are receiving current money of the United States, other customers of Merchants are given American Liberty Dollars as change.

Other Events

• On July 9, 2004, FBI special agent Andrew Romagnuolo purchased two American Liberty Dollars in the denominations of five dollars and ten dollars at a grocery store in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. Romagnuolo paid $15 in United States currency for the Liberty Dollars. The grocery clerk took the Liberty Dollars from the cash register.
• In the August 2006 edition of the Liberty Dollar News, a monthly newsletter of NORFED, a regional currency officer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania detailed his use of the Liberty Dollar to purchase goods and services on his vacation in various states. Among other things, he purchased and received change in current money of the United States for gas, campsite fees, lunch, and beverages.
• On October 11, 2005, William Kevin Innes explained to an FBI agent working undercover how to join NORFED as an Associate by purchasing the two-hundred and fifty dollar ($250.00) Associate package. Innes advised the agent that there were seventy (70) businesses in the Asheville area that took the American Liberty Dollar.
• On December 21, 2005, August 8, 2006, October 28, 2006, November 11, 2006, and March 28, 2007, a FBI agent working undercover purchased American Liberty Dollars from William Kevin Innes.
• On Noveber 3, 2005, a FBI agent working undercover received mailings from the NORFED Fulfillment Office, 225 N. Stockwell Road, Evansville, Indiana 47715. The mailing contained the NORFED Liberty Dollar Associate introductory packet of materials, American
• Liberty Dollar coins, warehouse receipts, and information to access an on-line account for eLiberty Dollars.
• On Novmber 3, 2005, a FBI agent working undercover created an eLiberty Dollar account online and downloaded twenty-two (22) eLiberty Dollars into the account.
• >On October 17, 2005, an FBI agent working undercover called NORFED from North Carolina at telephone number 1-888-421-6181. The agent used a credit card to purchase the Liberty Dollar Associate membership and materials and to enroll in Liberty Dollar University, a total purchase of $550.00
• On November 3, 2005, a FBI agent working undercover received the previously ordered Liberty Dollar Associate package in the United States mail. The package contained coins, silver certificates, and information on electronic Liberty Dollars.
• On August 8, 2006, an FBI agent working undercover purchased seventeen ounces of silver in Liberty Dollars in denominations of twenty dollars and ten dollars from William Kevin Times at his home in Asheville, North Carolina.
• On October 26, 2006, at a dinner in connection with a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Skokie, Illinois, an FBI agent working undercover purchased American Liberty Dollars in the denomination of twenty dollars from three people, who resided in Illinois, California, and Pennsylvania, respectively.
• On October 28, 2006, at a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Skokie, Illinois, a FBI agent working undercover exchanged $500 in United States currency for 240 Liberty dollars.
• On October 28, 2006, at a session of the Liberty Dollar University in Skokie, Illinois, Bernard von NotHaus took a FBI agent working Carolina to businesses and shops and showed the agent how to attempt to exchange Liberty Dollars for goods, services, and United States dollars.

Profit Scheme

• NORFED, its Regional Currency Officers, Associates, and member Merchants, make a profit circulating the currency.
• NORFED sells American Liberty Dollars to Regional Currency Officers, Associates, and Merchants at a price greater than the daily spot price of silver but less than the American Liberty Dollars’ face value.
• NORFED’s profit is the difference between the value in silver of the coin and the price that it sells the coins for.
• Regional Currency Officers, Associates, and Merchants sell the American Liberty Dollars at a different price.
• The profit for the Officers, Associates, and Merchants is the difference between their purchase price and their sales price.
• A person not affiliated with NORFED pays the face value minted on the coins.
• On October 20, 2005 Bernard von NotHaus told the attendees at a session of Liberty Dollar University in Fletcher, Buncombe County, North Carolina, that NORFED was making a profit of more than $1,000,000 per year.
• On March 24, 2007, at a Liberty Dollar meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bernard von NotHaus stated that NORFED was a multi-million dollar company.

Actual Value of Coins

• NORFED, its Officers, Associates, and Merchants, represents to purchasers or end owners of the American Liberty Dollar coins that the face value of an American Liberty Dollar coin can be exchanged dollar for dollar for current money of the United States.
• The Liberty Dollar (p. 1) states that the American Liberty Dollar exchanges “dollar for dollar with FRN for easy accounting.”
• The twenty dollar American Liberty Dollar coin is engraved with “one ounce .999 fine silver.”
• On the American Liberty Dollar website is it stated that by one troy ounce of .999 fine silver is redeemable at the value of the daily spot price of silver.
• On November 8, 2007, according to www.kitco.com, the New York Spot Price of silver was $15.34.
• On November 8, 2007, a twenty dollar American Liberty Dollar was backed by and redeemed for only $15.34 in current money of the United States.