Interesting tale about the Knights of Malta wanting to turn their paper money(?) into gold. This incident occurred two years ago (if story is true):
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
I’m not too sure how many people will buy this one, but it happened.
I work in the gold industry, and have some connections to some heavy-hitters, though I’m just a conduit for deals, not a deal-maker myself. Let’s just say I work more on the technical side of gold movements. Out of the blue, I get an email from a lawyer in Switzerland who says he had been referred to me by a “mutual acquaintance” who he would not name. 419 scam alert was in full effect, and I hit the spam button, I get those all the time. Next.
The next day, I answer a call from an unknown number. The Swiss lawyer is on the phone. I guess he wasn’t 419, but I’m thinking he’s just the Swiss version of it. He wants me to connect his client (who he would not name) to some of the major gold sellers that I work with. I’m resistant to this, and am tempted to hang up immediately, but he’s somehow believable. However, I let him know that there’s no way in hell I’d jeopardize any of my longstanding relationships to some anonymous person. I politely end the conversation, but prior to hanging up, he lets me know he will validate himself.
10 minutes later I get a call from one of my clients, who I’ve known for 15 years, who is ultra-wealthy, and who I view as somewhat of a mythical figure. He’s one of the “old boys”, and makes hundreds of millions by merely placing a few phone calls every month to facilitate deals. Though he’s my client, I rarely talk to him, I usually deal with “his people” through a few layers.
Without a “hello” or any sort of preface, he said, “Believe what you want, and draw your own conclusions, but I’ll tell you this: the people trying to do business with you are for real. I’ve never met any of them directly, no one has. They control a massive amount of wealth in the world. You’re a convenient person to them due to your connections in gold. That being said, they probably have 100 more people they could use. No harm if you walk away, but I’m letting you know that they are real.”
I manage to get out of him the group I’m dealing with. A organization called the “Sovereign Military Order of Malta”, some strange pseudo-church state thing straight out of the Da Vinci Code:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta
“… a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is widely considered a sovereign subject of international law. It takes its origins from the Knights Hospitaller, a group founded in Jerusalem about 1050 as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.”
I get a followup call from the Swiss lawyer an hour later, and I let him know I’m willing to proceed, though cautiously. He sends me a few docs, I fill them out, and send them back. He lets me know they wish to do some very large gold purchases directly with gold mining companies. I asked him why not just go to the LBMA, though I knew the answer, and I guess he knew that I knew the answer. He replied, “I realize this is just a question to probe our knowledge. If you’re in this business, you of course know that for all intents and purposes, the LBMA has no gold”.
I work in the gold industry, and have some connections to some heavy-hitters, though I’m just a conduit for deals, not a deal-maker myself. Let’s just say I work more on the technical side of gold movements. Out of the blue, I get an email from a lawyer in Switzerland who says he had been referred to me by a “mutual acquaintance” who he would not name. 419 scam alert was in full effect, and I hit the spam button, I get those all the time. Next.
The next day, I answer a call from an unknown number. The Swiss lawyer is on the phone. I guess he wasn’t 419, but I’m thinking he’s just the Swiss version of it. He wants me to connect his client (who he would not name) to some of the major gold sellers that I work with. I’m resistant to this, and am tempted to hang up immediately, but he’s somehow believable. However, I let him know that there’s no way in hell I’d jeopardize any of my longstanding relationships to some anonymous person. I politely end the conversation, but prior to hanging up, he lets me know he will validate himself.
10 minutes later I get a call from one of my clients, who I’ve known for 15 years, who is ultra-wealthy, and who I view as somewhat of a mythical figure. He’s one of the “old boys”, and makes hundreds of millions by merely placing a few phone calls every month to facilitate deals. Though he’s my client, I rarely talk to him, I usually deal with “his people” through a few layers.
Without a “hello” or any sort of preface, he said, “Believe what you want, and draw your own conclusions, but I’ll tell you this: the people trying to do business with you are for real. I’ve never met any of them directly, no one has. They control a massive amount of wealth in the world. You’re a convenient person to them due to your connections in gold. That being said, they probably have 100 more people they could use. No harm if you walk away, but I’m letting you know that they are real.”
I manage to get out of him the group I’m dealing with. A organization called the “Sovereign Military Order of Malta”, some strange pseudo-church state thing straight out of the Da Vinci Code:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta
“… a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is widely considered a sovereign subject of international law. It takes its origins from the Knights Hospitaller, a group founded in Jerusalem about 1050 as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.”
I get a followup call from the Swiss lawyer an hour later, and I let him know I’m willing to proceed, though cautiously. He sends me a few docs, I fill them out, and send them back. He lets me know they wish to do some very large gold purchases directly with gold mining companies. I asked him why not just go to the LBMA, though I knew the answer, and I guess he knew that I knew the answer. He replied, “I realize this is just a question to probe our knowledge. If you’re in this business, you of course know that for all intents and purposes, the LBMA has no gold”.
He goes on to state that the gold is to be used to fund various global projects, and they would like to acquire 20 metric tons of gold per month over the next year.
It ends there, however. After that day, I never heard back from him, and that was 2 years ago. Since that time, the price of gold has gone from 800 to 1350 per ounce.”
It ends there, however. After that day, I never heard back from him, and that was 2 years ago. Since that time, the price of gold has gone from 800 to 1350 per ounce.”
Hmm….
Spacehoppa, March 24, 2011 @ 6:42 pm
No comments:
Post a Comment