By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com
The buck apparently stopped with 67-year-old Bernard von NotHaus.
Von NotHaus, who was part of an anti-government movement, was convicted last week in federal court in North Carolina of minting roughly $7 million in Liberty Dollar coins, authorities said.
Authorities said investigators found that he had been making and disseminating the coins since 1998.
Von NotHaus was founder of an organization called the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code, commonly known as NORFED and also known as Liberty Services.
Authorities said Von NotHaus designed the Liberty Dollar currency that were marked with the dollar sign ($); the words dollar, USA, Liberty, Trust in God (instead of In God We Trust); and other features associated with legitimate coins.
In 2006, the Department of Justice and U.S. Mint issued a press release saying the Liberty Dollar was “not legal tender.
“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Tompkins said in a statement following last week’s verdict.
“While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,” she added. “We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption, and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government.”
