History
Bearer bonds have historically been the financial instrument of choice for money laundering, tax evasion, and concealed business transactions in general. In response, new issuances of bearer bonds have been severely curtailed in the United States since 1982.
In the United States all the bearer bonds issued by the US Treasury have matured. They no longer pay interest to the holders. As of May 2009, the approximate amount outstanding is $100 million.
In June 2009, Italian financial police and custom guards seized documents purporting to be US bearer bonds, totalling $134.5 billion. The bonds were in $500 million and $1 billion denominations, although the highest denomination ever issued by the US Treasury was $10,000. It was unclear what the purpose of the fake bonds was; the two men carrying them were not detained after the bonds were seized.
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