Authorities Uncover $6 Trillion in Fake U.S. Bonds

Mafia's counterfeiting scheme could be the biggest in history.

Italian and Swiss authorities uncovered $6 trillion worth of counterfeit U.S. bonds in three metal boxes in a warehouse in Zurich, Switzerland. The boxes contained thousands of fake $1-billion bonds made to look like they were issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1934. The investigation was spearheaded by anti-mafia agents, and it's believed that the mafia might have planned to sell the counterfeits. Doing so on such a large scale could have caused "severe threats" to the stability of the international financial system, according to Italian prosecutors. After all, that $6 trillion is about half of the U.S. government's debt. The case could also be the world's biggest-ever case of counterfeiting.