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FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

nytimes.com

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Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#321

Post by VikRubenfeld »

The article says "A senior C.I.A. official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million stashed in his Virginia residence, a small fortune that he apparently brought home from work, according to court papers."

The same article also says:

"When the C.I.A. conducted a review of where the gold and currency were stashed, the agency was “unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency,” according to court papers."

The NY Times fact checkers don't seem to have seen this article.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#322

Post by dingdingdang »

jack_pp wrote: post #299
throwaway173738 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as OP’s derision isn’t a reason for disbelief, “smart people” expressing belief isn’t a reason to believe.

It should at least be a reason to not be snarky about the subject.

Yes, it worth aiming for common sense as a bare minimum, chaos and entropy only grows when things we don't understand are casually derided/attacked.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#323

Post by brookst »

gosub100 wrote: post #257
saghm wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you can just ask for $40M in gold bars as a CIA agent and they don't have a better way of figuring out if you pocketed it than looking for it later (and apparently taking a while to think of checking his home?)

There's more to the story they aren't letting on to.

I would hope so. It would be very odd if they shared every detail of the suspect’s life, the investigation, the evidence, and all tangential but interesting facts as part of the arrest.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#324

Post by brookst »

expedition32 wrote: post #237
saghm wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you can just ask for $40M in gold bars as a CIA agent and they don't have a better way of figuring out if you pocketed it than looking for it later (and apparently taking a while to think of checking his home?)

Who watches the watchers?

Flock

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#327

Post by wat10000 »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #283
Tangurena2 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whenever you say "nobody would be that stupid" you have to pause and take a deep breath and realise that however dumb something is, there are for sure people who are stupid enough to do it. Long ago, I graduated from a police academy. One of the things taught was that crooks, while clever at finding ways to make money, are rather unclever ("stupid" if you will) at performing that task. Which is why so many are caug…

I think we often underestimate the intelligence of the criminal population for two main reasons. 1. The dumbest ones are most likely to be caught and have their stories told. 2. Law Enforcement often gets frustrated at chasing the smarter ones and use illegal methods catching them and the real story doesn’t come out in court.

On the other hand, smart people with criminal intent are more likely to find legal ways to profit. Why steal a hundred bucks from somebody when you can figure out how to steal a few bucks from millions and your only punishment is paying a fraction of your profit in fines.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#328

Post by wat10000 »

randusername wrote: post #287
lab14 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

> like that would have any effect on their lives Prayer is more than begging favors from imaginary friends, even if that is the stereotype and there is some truth in it. Like meditation, journaling, and other contemplative practices, it is a mechanism for putting the day-to-day in proper context of some larger narrative. In a theological framework, then, it's about a narrative in which you aren't alone in your joys a…

It may be more than begging favors from imaginary friends, but it does include begging favors from imaginary friends.

How many people would agree with the statement "prayer works"? How many of them consider that to mean actual concrete effects taking place outside the person making the prayer? It's a lot.

Maybe prayer is, for some people, just a way to organize your thoughts or whatever. But for a huge number of people, it's a way to literally influence outside events.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#329

Post by rbanffy »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #279
brk wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We clearly have differing opinions on what constitutes a decent jet. Are you buying your jets used ??

Check out the Cirrus Vision. About $3 million. Very decent jet. Seven people, easy to fly, nifty safety features.

The Vision is tiny. It doesn’t even have a bedroom. Not even a single bathroom.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#330

Post by manarth »

yawpitch wrote: post #304
manarth wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like 20+ weight belts, you go underwater with a 280kg weight belt you're not coming back!

Technically that depends on how much water you and the gold displace.

I'm a scuba instructor so for giggles I did the maths!

Based on these densities:

    Gold Density: 19.32 g/cm3
    Lead Density: 11.34 g/cm3
We now need to understand how much water is displaced by a kg.

    Gold volume: (1,000 / 19.32) ≈ 51.75 cm3
    Lead volume: (1,000 / 11.34) ≈ 88.18 cm3
1kg of gold displaces 51.75 cm3 of water. 1kg of lead displaces 88.18 cm3 of water.

    Fresh water: 1000 g/litre
    Salt water:  1025 g/litre
In fresh water:

    1kg gold = (1000g negative buoyancy - 52g water displacement) = 9948g negative buoyancy
    1kg lead = (1000g negative buoyancy - 88g water displacement) = 9912g negative buoyancy
In salt water:

    1kg gold = (1000g negative buoyancy - 53g water displacement) = 9947g negative buoyancy
    1kg lead = (1000g negative buoyancy - 90g water displacement) = 9910g negative buoyancy
As a scuba-diving weight, gold is less than 1% more efficient (by weight) than lead.

It's counter-intuitive: gold is nearly twice as dense as lead, but the importance in scuba diving is the weight of the, er, "weight", vs the weight of the water it displaces (Archimedes principle).

Gold weights per kilo are a tiny amount more efficient than lead per kilo, but much smaller and much sparklier. Anyone who wants to donate me a gold weight-belt, please be assured I would display it to its full magnificance. Around 8kg would be fine :-)

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