So-Called "Limited Edition" United States Treasury Securities

June 20, 1997

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is warning investors and financial institutions to beware of a new investment scheme involving so-called "Limited Edition" United States Treasury securities. The U.S. Department of Treasury has advised the SEC that these securities do not exist.

No matter what anyone tells you, there’s no such thing as a "Limited Edition" Treasury. It’s a scam.

Overseas con artists are trying to defraud banks, broker-dealers and other financial institutions by offering to sell and structure transactions in these bogus securities. As part of the scheme, the con artists are seeking banks to act as go-betweens for sales of these fictitious securities.

The sales pitch for the scam misrepresents the way legitimate U.S. Treasuries may be issued, bought or sold. It also describes the "Limited Edition" Treasury securities as:

• having a term of 10 years,
• yielding an annual interest rate of 6%,
• requiring a minimum purchase amount of $100 million,
• having an initial price of 57% of face value,
• having an unspecified offering amount (available for sale until "exhausted"), and
• being issued in physical (paper) form.

If you have information on the offer or sale of "Limited Edition" Treasury securities, contact the SEC Division of Enforcement, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Mail Stop 2-3, Washington, DC 20549, or via e-mail to enforcement@sec.gov.

Alerts regarding these fictitious securities have also been issued by

• the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC Alert 97-9),

• the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIL-42-97), and

• the New York Stock Exchange (Information Memo No. 97-22).

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/alerts/ltdtreas.htm