Last month, the founder and "monetary architect" of an illegal currency known as the Liberty Dollar was convicted in North Carolina on federal charges of making illegal coins and selling them—at a profit—to compete with legal US currency. Bernard von NotHaus, of Evansville, Indiana, was found guilty of making coins resembling US coins; issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money; and conspiring against the United States. Three others indicted in the case are awaiting their own trials. "People understand that there is only one legal currency in the United States," said Owen Harris, then-special agent in charge of our office in Charlotte. "When groups try to replace it with coins and bills that don't hold the same value, it affects the economy. And consumers were using their hard-earned money to buy goods and services, then getting fake goods in return." It all began in 2004, when our Charlotte Division learned that a customer at a North Carolina financial institution had tried to use silver coins that were not legal US currency. Our investigation revealed that the coins came from the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Codes (or NORFED), headquartered in Evansville, whose mission was to return the country's monetary system to gold and silver. The president of the organization was Bernard von NotHaus, who marketed his currency as ...