Benjamin Franklin, Rolling Over In His Grave
The amount of U.S. currency circulating outside banks rose sharply in July/August 2001. The growth ran into the billions of dollars, and was concentrated in $100 bills. These large-scale currency movements matter for anyone who cares about learning the truth about 9/11.
Under money laundering and other laws, assets can be frozen and seized in the banking system. Knowing this, parties concerned that their assets might be frozen or otherwise at risk after 9/11 would have had an incentive to liquidate securities and banking accounts beforehand, and withdraw their money in difficult-to-trace ways. This could have happened in U.S. banking and securities accounts, as well as accounts denominated in U.S. dollars outside the United States. Finding the parties responsible for large-scale withdrawals of currency before 9/11 could help identify people aware of, if not responsible for, those events.
A banking crisis in Argentina can provide a relatively innocent explanation for the mid-2001 surge in currency shipments, at least in part. But we still have no evidence of an honest, thorough investigation into other possible reasons for those shipments, reasons related to the crimes of September 11, 2001. And the mid-2001 currency shipments to Argentina are worthy of 9/11 investigation, as well.
A third explanation has gained greater plausibility following recent 9/11 research. Currency has a long history in covert operations. Accelerated covert or other military action in Central Asia soon before 9/11 could have played a role in those mid-2001 currency shipments.
July/August 2001 – Where Did the Money Go?
The currency shipments in July/August 2001 were indeed extraordinary. The currency component of the M1 monetary aggregate reported by the Fed rose by $13 billion (in the non-seasonally adjusted data), posting the highest such June-August growth rate in the 55 years since World War II. Balance sheet data for the Reserve Banks show a similar decline in inventory holdings of currency in July/August 2001, while data from the U.S. Treasury Department suggest the growth in currency in circulation was concentrated in $100 bills.
If you go to your bank and take $100 out of your checking account, the total amount of M1 (currency + demand deposits) will not increase, because the total in demand deposits will go down by $100 while the currency component of M1 (currency circulating outside of banks) will go up. Large scale currency withdrawals can cause large increases in the currency component of M1.
Large-scale currency withdrawals can be associated with suspicious, even criminal, activity. That is why financial institutions are required to file certain money laundering reports like currency transaction reports (in the event of large currency transactions) and suspicious activity reports.
On August 2, 2001, amidst surging currency shipments and a rising tide of warnings about impending terrorist threats, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors issued a non-routine letter to the Federal Reserve Banks urging them to scrutinize suspicious activity reports. The letter didn’t explain why it was issued when it was issued, nor did it specifically refer to terrorism or its financing. But terrorism and its financing were known and emphasized as an element of ‘suspicious activity.’ Four days later, the President of the United States received a high-level intelligence briefing warning of terrorism threats within the United States, in a briefing document that explicitly mentioned ‘patterns of suspicious activity.’
More recently, a set of articles from the Broward Bulldog and the Daily Telegraph (UK) a few weeks ago have raised new questions. These matters were originally discussed in the authors’ September, 2011 investigative work that identified a Saudi family that left southern Florida, and then the United States, in late August 2001. The group of people included a person associated with members of the Saudi royal family as well as significant banking interests. And apparently the FBI’s inquiry into these people was withheld from the Congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11, as well as the 9/11 Commission.
