The Mint and the GAO were sanctioned to audit a portion of the Treasury's gold. This post is a sequel to A First Glance At US Official Gold Reserves Audits and Second Thoughts On US Official Gold Reserves Audits. Many conspiracy theorists - like the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA)- believe the gold doesn't really exist, there isn't as much as the government claims, or the government has sold it off for years. Your request was received in this office on March 3, 2015 and assigned FOIA case number RD 45578. . More from the 1985 report: The audit procedures followed [at the FRBNY] were essentially the same as those followed at Mint institutions except that assay samples were not taken to verify the purity of the gold and the audited gold was not under committee control after the audit. The event, Sept. 23, 1974, is often inaccurately called the last audit of Fort Knox. The official story from OIG is that 100 % of the gold stored at Fort Knox was audited in between 1974 and 1986, . Here is a rundown of some of Kooss key findings. Thats 6 down, 7 more to go. Kinross - Fort Knox Mine April 22nd, 2021 Signature of Lead Auditor Page 2 of 47 . A second storage facility was built at the same time: . Let me show you an example of Fort Knox. Train fares will rise by 5.9% TOMORROW - but travellers can still get cheaper tickets if they buy them Why is Britain experiencing so many earthquakes? Between 1933 and 1937, this increased . Each gold bar is 7 inches x 3 and 5/8 inches x 1 and 3/4 . Bureau of Government Financial Operations [BGFO]. Over 640,000,000 ounces of real money sat behind those massive locked doors. Former US Mint director Edmund Moy has stated in 2013 US reserves contain mainly coin bars because of the great confiscation in 1933 by President Roosevelt, when US citizens were forced to hand in all physical gold. 147.3 million ounces of gold is stored at Fort Knox. Find out what Uber drivers really think of you! 1126, San Diego, CA, 92128, USA . Only one president has ever been inside -and the US Mint remains largely mum on the contents of the vault -making Fort Knox a hotbed for conspiracy theories. So once you have done that, and that seal remains unbroken, then I am not sure what other benefit there would be to going back into it at that point. The audits were conducted in accordance with the revised audit guidelines that required a statistical sample of gold melts within randomly selected compartments at the facilities. I decided to send an email to the FOIA online Help Desk to ask what happened to my request. initial 1974 Fort Knox audit which was conducted by GAO and Treasury auditors. After 20 years of Democratic presidents, the American public wanted to be sure that the gold confiscated from them was still there. When thinking about these re-audits, threescenarios pop to mind: Why else wouldso much gold have been re-audited? After the Congressional inspection, the Bullion Depository will once again be closed to visitors. Alaska, USA . Two tetrahedron-shaped chips were removed form the top and bottom of each bar assayed. walked past guards armed with submachine guns and through a 3-foot thick steel door into the . However, in some instances, the rationale for moving gold from one compartment to another proved elusive. After the gold was audited by the Continuing Audit committee all compartments were placed under Official Joint Seal. The day of the Mary Brooks tour of Fort Knox, September 23, 1974, the Treasury announced that for the first time in twenty-one years, they would agree to an audit of the U.S. gold reserve. What his dogged FOIA requests have failed to reveal, unfortunately, is anything that would put the questions about the Fort Knox gold to rest. There was nothing left to do but submit a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request. for Dads, American Women's History Coins & Need Help? From the 1985 report: In fiscal year 1985 audits of Government-owned gold were conducted at the United States Mint in Denver and the United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Site, Coin The audit announced, however, would include just 20% of the gold. These CDCs offer full-day care, part-day, and hourly care. By Jennifer Liberto @ CNNMoney June 24, 2011: 11:58 AM ET. Matt Bevin. The One "Audit" Of Fort Knox. You may consider submitting a FOIA request directly to the Treasury Department. The depository was built following U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt's, controversial 1933 legislation - Executive Order 6102 - which outlawed the private ownership of gold bullion. In the 1980 report we can read the audit procedures and a few other snippets (well quickly jump through) that help us understand how and where the audits were conducted: Audit procedures included (1) inspecting the joint audit committee seals used to control compartments containing previously audited gold; (2) comparing the records for each compartment inventoried to the identifying information on the gold bars; (3) weighing, from each compartment inventoried, at least one randomly selected melt in each fifty melts (a melt, averages about 20 bars cast from one crucible of molten gold); (4) removing samples from a bar in each of the melts weighed and having the samples assayed; (5) verifying the mathematical accuracy of all inventory records; (6) verifying the inventoried gold to the institutions records; (7) verifying the quantities shown by the institutions records to the control accounts for gold maintained by the Bureau of the Mint and to the central accounts maintained by BGFO; (8) placing audited gold bars in compartments under Official Joint Seal and audit committee control; and (9) reviewing and evaluating internal controls and security procedures. American $1 Coins, SHOP In a series of posts well continue to examine all there is to find regarding the audits of US official gold reserves. It seems that a portion of the Mint and the U.S. gold reserves were audited in an assay between 1993 and 2008, as you acknowledged. 'It's not even the annual funding level for some of our large departments in the federal government,' he said. Remember, were investigating the audits of the greatest gold hoard on earth, which underpins the world reserve currency the US dollar. But Bevin, speaking on WHAS radio, divulged a few more details. As a newcomer to Fort Knox, you are a part of the Gold Standard team that is making the Army's vision a reality. And the problem goes far beyond missing audit reports. Of course,strange things have been stored in the vault, like morphine and opiumduring the early '90s. And the vault has also been a setting place for several movies, the most famous being the 1964 James Bond film, Goldfinger when the titular character foiled a plot to contaminate thebullion. Donate here, Idaho House Votes to Authorize State Gold & Silver Holdings, 34 Wyoming House Members Thumb Their Noses at Sound Money, Catch-22: Rate Hikes May Fuel Even MORE Inflationary Deficit Spending, Vermont Seeks to Become 44th State to Roll Back Sales Tax on Sound Money, Mississippi Legislature Votes Overwhelmingly to End Sales Taxes on Gold and Silver, VIDEO: President of Money Metals Exchange Joins Gold Standard Podcast to Discuss Sound Money Legislation, Iowa Seeks to End Capital Gains Taxes on Gold and Silver, Mississippi Bill Would End All Taxes on, Invest State Funds in, Gold & Silver, Kentucky Lawmakers Aim to End Sales Taxes on Sound Money, Missouri Senate Votes to End Income Taxes on Gold and Silver, Hold Monetary Metals in Reserve, Legislators Seek Repeal of Wisconsins Controversial Sales Tax on Gold and Silver. On April 28, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspected the Bullion Depository, Mrs. Brooks said. I am glad to report that everything at the depository looked to be secure and in order. The usage of cookies and the collection of customer information by BullionStar is guided by our. 147.4 million fine troy ounces, valued at $6.2 billion, is stored in 13 . Every year the gold in Fort Knox is audited by checking the official joint seals that were placed on all vault compartments during the continuing audits of U.S.-owned gold from 1974 until 1986, when allegedly 97 % of the (Deep Storage) gold was inspected. Questions: The U.S. gold reserves at Fort Knox are broken into different numbered compartments within the gold vault. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin visited Fort Knox on August 21. More from 1981 report: The continuing audit is being conducted on a cyclical basis because of the enormous quantity of gold to be handled and the related costs. The 1974 Fort Knox audit by the GAO has been acknowledged and adopted by the continuing audits committee, so this it becamepart of the continuing audits. The last Congressional visit prior to this occurredin 1974. Are you already an expert in everything America? CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors, it should be clear that the Deep Storage gold has not been audited by professionals, but the precious metals have been verified by imbeciles., submitted a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Kolbe & Fanning Booksellers Buy or Bid Sale #3 Today Through March 15, Selections from Atlas Numismatics New Ancient, World Coin Inventory, Lesser Known History of the US Mint in Saudi Gold and Other Tales, Bitcoins and Physical Cryptocurrency in Stacks Bowers Auction. Few people have ever entered the vault,and while147.3 million ounces of goldallegedly exists inside, the accuracy remains in doubt. . The First Critical Observations", February 2017. previous, Kids According to some sources, this is where most of the other Treasury's gold is located. "good delivery" gold bars. Fort Knox Operation . Answer (1 of 2): Who knows but it is rumored that the majority of the gold in Fort Knox no longer exists! Fort Knox Internal Review and Audit Compliance. However, how trustworthy is this system of accounting? Join FORT KNOX code Axykp! Your browser is out of date. "We have approximately $200 billion of gold at Fort Knox," said Mnuchin. And we attempted to contact a records management officer at the Treasury Department, but did not receive a reply as of the date of this letter. However, there has been considerable doubt over the years as to whether the depository actually held any gold. Daily free rolls! This would last until 2010 when the Armor School was relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia. In the meantime I will fire several new FOIAs at the Office of the Inspector General and others. ', 'All I will say is that it is freakishly well secured,' he said. Fort Knox, major U.S. military reservation in Meade, Hardin, and Bullitt counties, northern Kentucky, U.S. In an audit conducted at Fort Knox in 1953, 88 ingots were counted for verification. And there is more, a lot more. Inside the lonely life of 'pavement killer': Neighbours reveal how 'childlike' disabled woman jailed for Tragedies of Everest: The adventurers forever frozen in ice after losing their lives scaling the world's 'Why the last-minute delay?' Koos mainly provides unique insights about Chinese gold market. The compartments at the Mint were placed under official joint seal, whereas the FRBNY compartments were never placed under official joint seal (as we can read on page 11 of the 1980 audit report). You requested access to audit reports of the United States Department of the Treasurys official gold reserves published by the Committee for Continuing Audit of the U.S. I have copied as much quotes in this post as I can to minimize the possibility of an erroneous interpretation of the official text in the audit reports. 211 votes, 25 comments. Shipping within New Zealand. And being surrounded by more than $186 billion worth of gold was no sweat for one of the country's most powerful politicians. The OIG audited 3 % from 1993 2008. when was the last time fort knox was audited. No irregularities were found. U.S. Army Cadet Command Headquarters is located inside the Fort Knox installation which is located roughly 35 miles south of Louisville, Kentucky. Great! On top of this, a decades worth (1993-2003) of Joint Seal inspections from the Denver and West Point depositories are not accounted for. ', 'I assume the gold is still there,' he said. There has not been any movement of inventoried gold since that time. Furthermore, these audits found no exceptions of any consequence. The next screen shot is from the reply by the FOIA help desk on May 6, 2015. Plus, US Mint Police remain a constant presence, and preside over the grounds from four machine gun towers placed around the perimeter. For the best and most secure experience in our catalog, please update your browser. Last time: This picture dates from 1974 - the last time civilians were allowed inside - and shows Mrs. Mary Brooks, Director of the Mint surrounded by gold in one of Fort Knox's vaults As a result more than 1,700 tonnes at the Fort Knox and the Denver depository, that were both fully audited and sealed at that time, needed to be re-audited. 4. With regardto my quest for all reports, lets have a look what US government departments could not deliver whatI was looking for: First was the Counsel to the Inspector General Department of the Treasury. The initial intention is clear to us, the FRBNY was supposed to be audited; the gold to be counted, weighed, assayed and the compartments to be sealed (these were the audit procedures of the continuing audits committee). In addition, the committee will include technicians from the Bureau of the Mint who are trained in assaying and weighing gold bullion. 3. This fits right into how the US government imposes audits on their official gold reserves; the audits are performed by the US government itself. 26 Feb 2017 13:18. Fort Knox history. Ron Paul introduced a bill that would require the Fed to manually audit every U.S.-owned gold . Compartments audited at Mint institutions and depositories are kept under official joint seal by representatives of the audit committee. All your favorite.50 games all in one club! This document also contains a summary of the 1980 audit which, by the way, isnt less detailed than the full 1981 report. Fort Knox: "Glad Gold Is Safe!". Weve barely come across any independent auditor that saw, counted, weighed or assayed the US official gold reserves. Two months later I still got no response. We will discuss the remaining 4 audit reports at once, as they are very similar. About 000% of them were weighed. In my previous post, from March 2018, on the audits of US official gold reserves, I have exposed that during the audit procedures of the US official gold reserves from 1974 through 2008, repeatedly audit staff deviated from the auditing . Mint Medals, Shop All Paper At the end of Fiscal Year of 2008, all 42 compartments had been audited by either the GAO, the Committee for Continuing Audit of the U.S. Moving on to the assay tests conducted at the US Mint. As a result, the gold at the Bank [FRBNY] is considered unaudited. He attempted to pinpoint how the Treasury Department verifies that the gold in its vault is both present and real. The documents also include new details about Mnuchin's activities at Fort Knox, where the Treasury stores a stockpile of gold with a market value it estimates at $190 billion. I'm not a professional auditor (if you are one please contact me), but common sense suggests that when irregularities are found the sample size . ', Last time: This picture dates from 1974 - the last time civilians were allowed inside - and shows Mrs. Mary Brooks, Director of the Mint surrounded by gold in one of Fort Knox's vaults, While primarily known as a vault for gold, the depository also held the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution during World War II. It was also the first visit by a serving US Treasury Secretary since 1948. Although the quality of the gold in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York cannot be readily assayed,. Miles Franklin sponsored this article by Gary Christenson.The opinions are his, and they are not investment advice. From the 1985 report: In fiscal year 1985 audits of Government-owned gold were conducted at the United States Mint in Denver and the United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Connecting thereto, from Thorsons opening statement: My office began conducting annual audits of the gold reserves in Fiscal Year 1993. An intruder standing on the roof of the Fort Knox Bullion Depository on the morning of September 11, 2015 would have seen the sunrise in the east. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Kentucky politicians went to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox for the first time since 1974, Reassurance: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tweeted out thanks to the US Mint and confirmed that the gold is all safe. 12/ As of September 30, 1984, 99.9 percent of the gold stored at the United States Denver Mint had been audited under the initial continuing audit program. The First Critical Observations. As weve seen thus far there are many problems with the official story everything is fine, all the US official gold reserves all audited. Government-owned Gold performed annual audits of Treasurys gold reserves from 1975 to 1986, placing all inventoried gold that it observed and tested under an official joint seal. $800 weekly hand count free roll. In short, the US National Archives could not extradite the 7 audit reports I requested. The public may never know. Cookies are also used for the purpose of handling our system and services. The vault can withstand guns, blowtorches, and other incendiary devices. Test yourself with this Cockney Rhyming Slang quiz. The Fort Knox facility, a hyper-secure fortress in Kentucky that is part of quintessential American lore, is . The last full audit was done in 1953 . It is surrounded by an active U.S. Army fort, guarded by the U.S. Mint Police and protected by layers of security measures, including a blast proof 22-ton door, 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 . Fort Knox, Kentucky is an Army base with more than one hundred thousand acres stretching across three counties. Moreover, it showed a number of (at best) inconsistencies in how the mint conducts its bullion inspection for auditing purposes. However, no outside experts were allowed in during the audit, and only about 5% of the gold was actually tested. Medals, Email & When I logged in at my account at the FOIA website, I saw my request had disappeared. Koos takes a sharp jab at how the government bureaucracy operates, inveighing (with cause) that it should be clear that the Deep Storage gold has not been audited by professionals, but the precious metals have been verified by imbeciles.. Reversal of this policy on a one time only basis came as a result of a series of peculiar events that resulted in a congressional demand for an audit of the bullion depository, and a first-hand viewing of the gold deposited there. The missing audit reports and assay reports feed into our skepticism. I shall rest here. For the first time photographing is being permitted inside the Depository.. Fort Knox is used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves and occasionally other precious . 45 New Bridge Road, Singapore 059398 Singapore Also, the assay test results from last year's gold audits at Fort Knox and West Point were We are a community that loves Silver, Period. He ought to have known precisely how many pages were needed and presumably where to find them. Jansen found instances in which the Treasurys auditors failed to follow the governments own procedures for the auditing process. Ideas, Gifts for but American gold holdings were reportedly last audited in 1953 (which includes testing for purity); Fort Knox's gold was . Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles. This is largely due to a well-circulated rumor during the 1970s that the vaults had been emptied by elites in banking in government, either leased out or confiscated. So, what's really inside Fort Knox? Despite continued inquiries, the US Mint refuses to offer up proof of the exact amount of gold held at Fort Knox. In 1936, Fort Knox military base was chosen as the site to build a bullion depository to store this gold. Circulating Part One, We use cookies to enhance the user experience and to analyse traffic. While this sum is unreasonable, a crowdfunding campaign donated the total in less than 24 hours (strangely enough, the Mint never actually cashed Kooss check, and nearly all of the money was eventually refunded.). The Treasury document says it would cost about $15 million to conduct an audit. Koos Jansen. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Experts weigh in as tremors hit Wales, Cornwall and the Are YOU eating the right colours? Coins, Precious After writing it Ive been trying to collect all audit reports dating from1974 1986. Answer (1 of 2): Internally, it is done annually. The US Treasury currently owns 8,134 tonnes of gold of which 7,716 tonnes is stored by the US Mint (4,583 tonnes at Fort Knox, 1,364 tonnes in Denver, 1,682 at West Point) and 418 tonnes at the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York. In 1983 the OIG found out something was amiss with the audits performed 1974 1982. After some correspondence back and forth I finally got an email saying my FOIA was exported out of FOIAonline because myrequest was for access to historical records. Gold verification at Fort Knox March 1998, page 2. Bags, & Boxes, Code COIN & MEDAL PROGRAMS, History of U.S. US citizens were required to sell their gold bullion - bars and coins - back to the State. The door weighs 22 tons and is 21 inches thick, and the roof is bomb proof. More false statements by the auditor have appeared, further eroding its credibility. However, if that intruder had turned to the west he would have . Submitted to: . 1495,not enacted) in 2011 the Inspector General (IG) of the Treasury presented a case all is fine, but all is not fine. While primarily known as a vault for gold, the depository also held the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution during World War II. If you subscribe to this theory, the incredible amount of protection at the U.S. Bullion Depository is for little more than a pile of IOUs. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S. holdings of gold. Single mother faces 170 parking fine after overstaying at McDonald's for just 14 minutes while she treated Man had sex with his wife on bollard in protest after it had been erected by neighbour to stop him parking What will the next pandemic be?