Original subtitles

>> NARRATOR: It is one of

the most precious metals

in the world.

>> MIKE MALONEY: People

throughout the centuries have

chased after it.

>> NARRATOR: A glittering

commodity so rare that some will

go to almost any lengths

to get it.

>> JAMES RICKARDS: They're using

secret agents around the world

to acquire it.

>> NARRATOR: But who sets

its price?

>> ERICH "MANCOW" MULLER: It's

being manipulated by the powers

that be in America.

>> NARRATOR: And what are their

secret methods to control its

value?

>> ALEX SEITZ-WALD: They

allegedly tricked their

customers.

Some people lost hundreds

of thousands of dollars.

>> ALEX JONES: But it's like

a beach ball you hold under

the water.

When you finally let it go,

it's gonna explode.

>> NARRATOR: There are those

who believe in the existence

of a book...

a book that contains the most

highly guarded secrets of the

United States of America.

A book...

whose very existence

is known to only a select few.

But if such a book exists,

what would it contain?

Secret deals?

Secret rip-offs?

Secret conspiracies?

Does there really exist...

America's Book of Secrets?

>> NARRATOR: Chicago, Illinois.

October 11, 2013.

An anonymous trader places

a two-million-ounce gold

sell order.

The transaction is so massive,

it drives the price of gold

gold down $25, and shuts down

the Commodity Exchange for

ten seconds.

According to reports, this was

not the only suspicious sale

since President Obama had a

closed-door meeting with the big

banks on August 19, 2013.

It led many to ask the question,

could someone be lowering the

price of gold on purpose?

>> MICHAEL RIVERO: There has

been a lot of speculation about

what happened over at the Comex.

This sale is the most recent

one.

Where there's an attempt to

force gold prices down as hard

as possible in order to allow

Comex and other brokerages to

grab up the gold as cheaply as

possible.

>> PETER SCHIFF: I don't know

where the selling is coming

from, but it certainly does feed

the flames of the conspiracies

that say they are deliberately

trying to sell gold, knock the

price down, because this happens

with no news.

>> MIKE MALONEY: The Plunge

Protection Team, the president's

working group on financial

markets-- it's headed by the

Secretary of the Treasury, the

head of the Securities and

Exchange Commission and the

airman of the Federal Reserve.

And they get together and meet

secretly to manipulate the price

of gold and the markets, and try

and keep confidence in the

currency.

>> ROBERT REICH: The issue is

not whether there is a

manipulation of gold prices,

per se.

The commodities markets and many

other markets today are

potentially manipulated by very

wealthy players who, because of

their size and wealth and often

inside information, can get into

a particular commodity and drive

the price up, and then unload

it, get out, and then impose

huge costs on everybody else who

followed them in.

>> JAMES RICKARDS: There is

absolutely an effort on the part

of the United States government

and others to manipulate the

price of gold.

And we did it through gold

sales.

So, the proof is there.

>> ALEX JONES: They've been

trying to keep the prices of

commodities down while they

inflate the currency.

And they have been successful in

suppressing gold prices.

If you look at inflation,

via the dollar and the Euro,

gold should conservatively be

at $2,500 an ounce.

That's why investors know

there's manipulation in the

metals markets.

But it's like a beach ball

you hold under the water in the

pool.

When you finally let it go, it's

gonna explode.

>> NARRATOR: August 15, 1971.

>> PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: The

conclusion of the most

significant monetary agreement

in the history of the world.

>> NARRATOR: President Nixon

signs an executive order that

ends America's use of the gold

standard and creates the system

of paper currency that is still

used today.

For the first time in the

history of the country, the

United States dollar was no

longer directly linked to gold.

>> MATTHEW HART: Under the gold

standard, the government was

constrained in its monetary

policy by the amount of gold it

had.

If you had X amount of gold,

that meant you could have

X amount of currency.

The currency had to be backed by

gold, according to a fixed

ratio.

>> SCHIFF: The Founding Fathers

wanted limited government, and

one of the ways you limit

the power of government is with

a gold standard.

Government can only spend money

if it can collect gold in taxes.

So, by going off the gold

standard, there's no limit to

how much money the government

can create, so there's no limit

to the size that the federal

government can grow.

>> RICKARDS: If you were going

to put gold back in the center

of the International Monetary

System, the price would have to

be $9,000 or $10,000 per ounce

in order to support world

finance.

The United States doesn't want

that.

We want a dollar system where we

can print the dollar.

>> NARRATOR: Was Richard Nixon's

shocking decision to abandon the

gold standard really part of

a secret plot to bolster the

United States dollar?

A plot that continues to this

day?

>> SCHIFF: The biggest secret

about the gold standard is that

a gold standard works.

America became the wealthiest

nation the world had ever seen

under a gold standard.

Since we've abandoned the gold

standard, it's been downhill.

>> ERICH "MANCOW" MULLER: Gold

has value.

And the real people in control

know the value of gold.

And they are manipulating it,

and they are buying it up

as quick as they can.

>> REICH: Some people are

obsessed with return to a gold

standard because they don't

trust the Federal Reserve Board.

They don't trust people who are

appointed by politicians to

effectively control inflation.

And if you've got a lot of

money, inflation is your enemy,

because inflation could

undermine your fortune.

>> NARRATOR: Those who oppose

the currency system-- known as

"gold bugs"-- believe the

federal government is going to

destroy the American economy,

and that gold is the only hedge

against fiscal Armageddon.

Is there really a covert war

over the price of gold, being

waged between the government and

America's gold investors?

And if so, how could it affect

the general public?

>> ALEX SEITZ-WALD: There's

definitely a gold conspiracy

theory in America, that gold

prices are kept artificially low

by the government or by Wall

Street or some combination of

both, in order to exert more

control over people's lives.

So if they can keep gold prices

low, then they can give you more

reason to invest in stocks or in

currencies, so then you'll have

to be more dependent on them.

>> NARRATOR: In 2009, WikiLeaks

uploaded a cable from the U.S.

Embassy in Beijing, revealing

that the Chinese government

believed the United States was

suppressing the price of gold to

strengthen the dollar as the

world's reserve currency,

ultimately benefiting America's

bankers, the Federal Reserve

and the White House.

But perhaps even more shocking

was the fact that the Chinese

government had been secretly

acquiring hundreds of tons of

gold for themselves.

>> RICKARDS: China's using

intelligence assets, military

assets, secret agents, banks

around the world, to acquire

gold.

No one knows exactly how much

they're acquiring.

But there's a lot of gold that's

sort of off-the-books.

>> MULLER: I actually agree with

China on this one.

America is manipulating gold.

And who's doing it?

The people in power.

The educated folks that know

that gold has intrinsic value.

And they're getting us to bet on

all this other stuff while they

collect the metals-- the items

that have real value, and that's

what this is about.

>> HART: Nixon ended the gold

standard.

But this country still has the

biggest single hoard of gold on

the planet.

What most Americans don't

appreciate is that gold

certificates owned by the

Federal Reserve are backed by

the gold hoard.

So, while the dollar is not

convertible into gold, some of

its value still rests on this

very ancient asset, of which the

U.S. is the possessor of the

largest single amount.

>> MULLER: Gold never loses its

value.

They want us to buy into paper

money.

They want the gold.

They want us to believe the

paper money has some value.

It doesn't.

And that's the conspiracy.

>> NARRATOR: Is it possible the

government has been secretly

devaluing gold in order to hoard

the precious metal for itself?

And if so, how much gold does

the United States really have?

And where is it locked away?

There are those who believe the

shiny commodity is plagued by a

dark secret, a secret that the

U.S. government is trying

desperately to cover up.

>> NARRATOR: May 14, 2011.

John F. Kennedy International

Airport, New York City.

Just moments before departure,

International Monetary Fund

Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is

pulled off an Air France flight

and hit with a bizarre

sex allegation.

Within days, the 62-year-old

resigns from the IMF and

conspiracy theories about his

arrest spread through the media.

>> RIVERO: This sudden sex

scandal that ended Dominique

Strauss-Kahn's career, the

timing is simply too cute,

because he was driven from his

position at the IMF just at the

point he was beginning to ask

serious questions about whether

the New York Federal Reserve was

playing "fast and loose" with

some of the IMF member-nation's

gold.

>> NARRATOR: Some reports claim

that just days earlier,

Strauss-Kahn received secret

information revealing how the

United States government may

have been lying about the amount

of gold reserves it has.

And when the Federal Reserve

refused to give the IMF more

than 191 tons of its gold,

Strauss-Kahn demanded an audit

of the Fed's gold supply.

>> MULLER: Dominique

Strauss-Khan got tipped off by

good sources.

And they warned him that their

gold was gone.

So he started to investigate.

>> RIVERO: The numbers simply

weren't adding up for those who

are tracking where the physical

gold in the market is coming

and going from.

And I think he just started to

ask, "We know some of the gold

is supposed to be stored in the

Federal Reserve.

I'd just like to make sure it's

really there."

And I think that was the

statement that made him

a target.

>> MULLER: Was Dominique

Strauss-Khan set up by America

and-and by the French

governments to keep this thing

secret about the truth about our

gold?

Absolutely.

They wanted his ass in jail

'cause he was asking about

the gold.

>> NARRATOR: Was the scandal

really a secret plot designed to

silence Strauss-Kahn?

Is it possible the government

has been lying about the

nation's stockpile of gold?

In 2013, the United States

claimed to have more than 8,000

tons of gold, the single

largest gold holding in the

world, worth an estimated

$440 billion.

And each year, nearly

$5 trillion of bullion is traded

around the world.

So just what is it about this

precious metal that makes it

so potent?

And why is gold so alluring?

>> SEITZ-WALD: Humans love

gold because it's really rare.

In the entire history of human

civilization we've mined

something like 200,000 tons of

gold compared to 5 million tons

of aluminum mined annually

in the United States alone.

>> HART: If you took all the

gold ever mined in all of

history, melted it down into a

single block, it would probably

cover a tennis court to a depth

of about 30 feet.

That's it.

That's the whole total.

>> MALONEY: The lure of gold is

that it's the ultimate form

of money.

And people throughout the

centuries have chased after it

and risked their lives.

>> NARRATOR: To the ancient

Egyptians, gold was considered

the flesh of the gods.

The Incas believed it

represented the glory of their

sun god.

And in the Bible, there are more

than 400 references to gold,

including direct commands from

God about the shiny metal.

>> ROBERT MAYNE, JR.: Gold's the

most noble metal.

The only metal that will never

tarnish, never oxidize.

It always stays intact and

shiny.

>> NARRATOR: Today, the United

States' gold reserves are stored

in four highly guarded vaults

located at the Federal Reserve

Bank in New York, the U.S.

Mint in Denver, and two military

bases-- West Point and Fort

Knox.

In 2011, Former Congressman Ron

Paul challenged the government

to prove its holdings,

petitioning Congress to audit

the gold in the bullion

depository at Fort Knox in

Kentucky, where the majority of

the United States' stash is

housed.

>> RON PAUL: This gold belongs

to the people and the government

owes it to the people to provide

them with the details of these

holdings-- "who owns the gold

and who is responsible

for ownership."

>> NARRATOR: But the United

States Department of the

Treasury-- the executive agency

that works with the Federal

Reserve Bank to oversee the

nation's gold reserve-- refused,

claiming such a massive

inspection of the Fed's vaults

would take six months and cost

$15 million.

>> MALONEY: The Federal Reserve

is one of the most secret

organizations that there is.

Ron Paul told me, as a

congressman, he could find more

out about what the CIA is doing

than what the Federal Reserve is

doing.

We don't know what they've done

with our gold.

>> SCHIFF: How do we know the

gold is actually there?

Because it's been a long time

since anybody was down in those

vaults, certifying that the gold

is there.

>> NARRATOR: But according to

reports, in 2012, government

officials did, in fact, quietly

conduct a first-ever audit on

the gold at the Federal Reserve

Bank in New York.

Their findings?

Not only is the gold in the

vault, but it tested purer than

previously reported.

Still, some question whether

this evaluation can truly be

trusted.

>> JONES: The biggest secret

concerning America's gold hoard:

there hasn't been a real audit

of it in more than half a

century.

>> MALONEY: There's been very

cursory audits of the Federal

Reserve that don't actually

mean anything.

They've never dug down deep to

see what the Federal Reserve is

up to.

And this is the biggest heist of

the century, actually.

>> NARRATOR: Is the United

States government really

overstating the amount of gold

in its reserves?

Some believe the answer is yes,

and that greater measures are

being taken to hide the truth

than ever before.

>> NARRATOR: 33 Liberty Street.

Located in the heart of New York

City's Financial District, the

Federal Reserve Bank has become

a tourist hot spot known for

its massive vault buried five

stories below the bustling

streets and loaded with 6,700

tons of gold valued at a

staggering $368.5 billion.

>> RICKARDS: This vault is cut

into solid bedrock, so there's

only, uh, one very narrow

way in or out.

Most of the gold that's there

has been there for a very long

time, and doesn't move around.

>> NARRATOR: The Federal Reserve

vault has become known as the

"world's largest bullion

warehouse," but surprisingly,

much of the bullion it contains

is not owned by the government.

Instead, the Federal Reserve

vault mostly stores the gold of

foreign countries, central banks

and international organizations,

and at no cost.

>> HART: You go down five

stories underground to this

enormous vault...

peer through the door,

and in there, in these various

separate cages, like a prison

cell, you see these stacks of

gold bars, and that stack

belongs to Mexico,

and this stack over here

belongs to Austria.

And every now and then, if a

country wants to settle a trade

imbalance with another,

employees of the Federal Reserve

go in and move them from one

cage to another.

>> NARRATOR: Nearly half of

Germany's bullion has been

stored in the vault since the

1950s, but in January 2013, when

the European country asked for

300 tons of its gold back, the

Federal Reserve said it couldn't

deliver until 2020.

>> RIVERO: What happened when

Germany asked for its gold

back...

is they got the big stall.

"And in the meantime, no,

you're not allowed to come on

over and actually look at it to

make sure it's really here.

We're not set up for

inspection."

But it was Germany's gold and

they have every right to

inspect on demand.

>> MALONEY: And the Federal

Reserve sent them a letter that

basically said it was going to

take seven years to repay

Germany their gold.

>> NARRATOR: But why would the

Federal Reserve refuse to permit

Germany to examine its own gold?

Was it really for security

purposes, or were they perhaps

trying to hide something?

Some have speculated that the

United States Central Bank

doesn't actually have as much

gold as it claims because

it has been sold off, lent out,

or used as collateral

for U.S. debt.

>> SCHIFF: If we really have

all that gold and Germany just

wants a small part of what

we're supposedly holding, why

can't we just send it to them?

>> MULLER: There's just a

little problem.

It's gone... stolen, pilfered

by the powers that be

in America.

>> NARRATOR: According to

reports, five nations are now

asking for their gold bullion on

deposit in the United States,

and they're all getting what

some call "the big stall."

But why?

Might there be more going

on below ground and behind

closed doors when it comes

to gold?

There are those who believe the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

is hiding a shocking secret,

because just across the street

lies the JP Morgan Chase

building.

It houses the world's largest

private U.S. bank vault, which--

like the one at the Federal

Reserve-- is also five stories

below the ground.

Is it merely coincidence that a

federal bank housing the gold of

foreign nations is located just

a few meters away from a private

U.S. bank that also trades in

precious metals?

And that their vaults are on the

exact same level... underground?

>> RIVERO: The reason the

JP Morgan gold vault, uh, is a

concern is the idea that there

might be tunnels underneath

those buildings, and almost

certainly there are.

It's a concern that Wall Street

collectively is using a small

pool of shared gold for a

display item.

It's really a shell game.

The gold is the pea and these

large Wall Street financial

firms are the shell.

If somebody goes into JP Morgan

and says, "I want to verify

my gold is here" and JP Morgan

says, "Here's the pack of

gold," and they go home happy.

Then it's taken down the tunnel

to the New York Federal Reserve

and put on display there for

Germany or Venezuela or any of

these other countries.

>> JONES: There are a lot of

conspiracy theories about

tunnels between JP Morgan Chase

and the Federal Reserve.

I don't know if that's true.

I know this: where there's

smoke, there's fire.

>> NARRATOR: Is it possible

there is a secret passageway

between the two vaults allowing

the Federal Reserve and

JP Morgan Chase banks to share

their gold stock when needed?

If so, might this be further

evidence that suggests the U.S.

has far less gold than

it claims?

And might gold really be so

scarce, that some Americans will

stop at nothing to get it?

>> NARRATOR: February 2013.

Gold Country.

Northern California.

While walking their dog on their

property, a couple discovers

eight metal cans filled with

1,400 rare gold coins.

Estimated to be worth more than

ten million dollars, the secret

treasure has become known as the

Saddle Ridge Hoard.

>> BIX WEIR: For an individual,

it would, it could change

their lives.

We don't know how rich the

people are that found this gold,

because they're not saying who

they are.

They're doing it through a

broker and they don't want

anybody to come to them and say,

"You just won the lottery,"

type of thing.

>> NARRATOR: Within days of the

announcement, reports began to

circulate that the anonymous

couple might be required to give

up nearly 50 percent of their

newfound fortune in taxes.

There were even reports that

if the government can prove the

coins were the same ones that

were stolen from the U.S. Mint

more than 150 years ago,

they might even confiscate

all of the gold.

But why would the government be

going to such elaborate legal

lengths to frustrate people who

were lucky enough to find gold

buried on their own property?

May 2007.

100 miles west of the Strait of

Gibraltar.

While searching these

international waters, American

deep-sea exploration company

Odyssey Marine Exploration

uncovers a shipwreck containing

more than 17 tons of silver and

gold coins, a fortune worth an

estimated $500 million.

>> PENN: This treasure included

500,000 gold and silver coins.

This was viewed as the largest

deep-ocean haul of a major

treasure.

There's a lot at stake here.

Um, it's not a million dollars,

it's not $10 million, it's not

$100 million, it's a half a

billion dollars.

>> NARRATOR: Markings on the

coins reveal that the treasure--

code-named "Black Swan"-- came

from the Spanish vessel

Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes,

a war ship attacked by the

British navy during the Battle

of Cape Santa Maria off the

coast of Portugal in 1804.

But when the Tampa-based salvage

company tried to file claim to

the underwater riches-- which

cost $2.6 million dollars to

retrieve and transport-- a legal

battle for the precious cargo

ensued.

>> PENN: Spain says, "This was

our treasure.

We were en route from South

America back to our country when

the British attacked us, so you

have to turn this over to us."

Odyssey filed a counter-claim

saying that we found the

treasure and it was in

international waters, so we are

the rightful owners of it.

>> MAYNE, JR.: It's very unusual

that, uh, a government would

step in and claim something.

Salvage law is very defined

and it has been for hundreds

and hundreds of years.

The rights of the salv.

The "Finder keepers."

Very defined law.

>> NARRATOR: In February 2012,

nearly five years after the gold

coins were discovered in the

Atlantic Ocean, the United

States court made a surprising

decision, ruling that the

treasure be given back to Spain

and even ordering Odyssey to pay

$1 million in legal fees.

But why?

>> MAYNE, JR.: At the very

least, Odyssey should have been

rewarded salvage compensation

for the work.

That's the oldest salvage law

there is.

You risk life and limb...

you're rewarded for what you've

recovered.

You're always compensated well

for risking your life.

>> NARRATOR: Why wasn't Odyssey

reimbursed for their recovery

costs?

Might there be a secret reason

the U.S. government ruled in

favor of Spain and not an

American company?

>> PENN: What we learned was

that there were negotiations

between Spain and the U.S.

government that Odyssey didn't

know about.

>> NARRATOR: According to

documents released in July 2008

by WikiLeaks, U.S. officials

were, in fact, working with the

Spanish government, hoping to

strike a shocking deal.

In exchange for helping Spain

reclaim their gold treasure, the

U.S. government requested that

the painting Rue Saint-Honore

Effet de Pluie, plundered by

the Nazis in 1939, be returned

to its wealthy American owner.

>> PENN: There were secret

negotiations between the U.S.

State Department and Spain.

And the U.S. government said,

"Well, we'll stay out of the

Odyssey case, but we want this

painting to go back to the

family."

But Spain has just refused to

turn the painting over.

>> WEIR: Odyssey Marine did get

the raw end of that deal.

It just goes to show you that

when you're dealing with gold,

even the law is kind of thrown

out sometimes.

>> NARRATOR: There are many who

believe the U.S. government will

stop at nothing to prevent large

amounts of gold from falling

into private hands.

If so, it only seems to be

fueling a greater and greater

determination on the part of

private citizens to possess the

gleaming metal.

But as America's lust for gold

grows, could sinister scams be

set to take innocent citizens

for all they're worth?

>> NARRATOR: November 2011.

Santa Monica, California.

City prosecutors charge precious

metals retailer Goldline

International with 19 counts of

criminal fraud, alleging the

company used "bait and stch"

tactics to persuade customers

into purchasing overpriced gold.

Though most Americans buy gold

in the form of jewelry, some are

attempting to invest in it

through online sites like

Goldline, purchasing it in the

form of coins or gold bars,

also known as bullion.

>> SEITZ-WALD: Most people

buying gold have no idea how

the market works.

Goldline allegedly preyed on

that ignorance and tricked their

customers into buying antique

gold coins with markups of 90%

or 150%.

But some people lost hundreds

of thousands of dollars.

>> JAMES ANDERSON: It's not a

regulated industry, and so it's

"buyer beware."

Where they'll show you bullion

and then get you to send funds

to them, and then the account

manager will get on the phone

and say, uh, "We think bullion's

okay, but maybe you ought to

look at these coins as well."

>> NARRATOR: According to the

lawsuit, Goldline had been

inappropriately citing a 1933

presidential order that

prohibited American citizens

from hoarding the precious

metal.

>> SCHIFF: They tell you that,

well, if you own this particular

coin, then the government can't

confiscate them.

And they bring out the old 1933,

uh, Roosevelt law and they say,

"These would be exempt."

>> SEITZ-WALD: There's no

evidence at all that the White

House was considering doing

something like this.

It's a scare tactic that was

used to push people into buying

these scammy gold coins.

>> NARRATOR: Prosecutors claimed

Goldline sold hundreds of

thousands of dollars in

overpriced gold coins by hiring

well-known radio and TV

personalities who would then

drum up fears about the

government and lure audiences

into believing that the coins

were a safe investment.

>> SEITZ-WALD: Gold sellers pay

talk radio show hosts to pitch

their product.

At the same time, talk radio

show hosts also preach their

worldview, which speaks of

impending financial collapse

and that gold is the only

salvation.

>> HART: In 2008, Lehman

Brothers Bank collapsed.

And with that, a wave of fear

spread through the financial

world.

Gold loves fear.

It loves a panic.

It dines on human emotions, and

it shot-- in less than three

years-- from $800 an ounce

to almost $1,900 an ounce.

>> SEITZ-WALD: During the

financial crisis, there was this

belief, and understandably so,

that you couldn't trust Wall

Street.

You couldn't trust governments.

You couldn't even trust cash.

Gold was the last place you

could put your money and believe

that it was gonna be there in

ten years, 100 years...

So a lot of people saw that and

they saw an opportunity to make

a quick buck.

>> SCHIFF: The salesmen who are

selling these coins to you have

a enormous interest in getting

you to overpay, because the more

you overpay, the more they

make.

>> NARRATOR: In February 2012,

Goldline settled with the City

of Santa Monica and agreed to

refund up to $4.5 million

to its customers.

They also promised to disclose

the markup on their gold coins

and to stop using scare tactics

to dissuade customers from

buying bullion.

But Goldline wasn't the only

vendor to be accused of engaging

in inappropriate behavior.

In 2009, a former employee

of Cash4Gold, another gold

retailer, published a letter

in the Consumerist to

warn customers of alleged

deceitful techniques deployed by

the company, including the use

of non-standardized testing

equipment and telling consumers

their gold had been

"lost in the mail."

But perhaps the most alarming

secret operation plaguing the

gold market is the production

and selling of counterfeit

bullion, a practice that can be

traced back to the 7th century

BC, when the ancient Greeks

began plating their base metal

coins with precious metals

like gold.

In September 2012, a ten-ounce

gold bar, purchased for nearly

$18,000 in Manhattan's Diamond

District, turned out to be

fake-- filled with tungsten,

a metal worth little more than

a dollar an ounce.

>> ANDERSON: He bought what

appeared to be a Swiss gold bar

and for some reason, he just was

skeptical of it.

It looked like a legitimate gold

bar, like any other, but he

drilled a hole in it and, lo and

behold, once he got about a

millimeter in, he hit tungsten.

>> RIVERO: Now, tungsten is a

a metal that is almost exactly

the same density as gold.

And, all of a sudden, around the

world, we're finding coins and

bars that are filled with

tungsten.

Somebody is creating fake gold.

>> NARRATOR: According to

reports, more than ten

fraudulent gold bars had been

discovered in Manhattan within

a week...

so just how can investors

ensure their product is pure?

>> ANDERSON: What they'll use is

a technology that is used for

women that are pregnant.

They'll measure the bar through

sound and will find something,

if it's not gold.

Counterfeit gold are a growing

problem in the world and the

reason is China, mainly.

It's a sport over there

as far as who can make the best

counterfeits.

And it's hard for the U.S.

Secret Service to stop it.

>> NARRATOR: With so many gold

scams-- not to mention the

controversy surrounding the

price of gold-- is investing in

this precious metal safe?

And what would happen if an

enormous quantity were to be

suddenly discovered?

Could gold ever really become

worthless?

>> NARRATOR: Los Angeles.

Miami.

New York City.

For gold investors looking to

secure their shiny fortunes...

...these three cities now offer

some of the most affordable,

accessible and highly guarded

privately-owned gold vaults in

the world...

vaults so secret that most

Americans don't even know they

exist.

>> ANDERSON: A lot of cases,

people can walk right by

a vault and not know.

They are not in high-end

neighborhoods.

They're in blue-collar

neighborhoods, in places that

you would not guess.

>> MALONEY: Many gold vaults

are more secure than, uh, some

of the world's central banks'

gold vaults because a lot of

them are newer.

You have to give a palm print

and enter a pin code.

It's very, very high-tech

and impressive technology.

>> NARRATOR: Some Americans

believe vaults like these are

the only way to keep their gold

stockpiles readily available to

them at all times, and most

importantly, to keep them away

from the grasp of the federal

government.

>> MALONEY: The beauty of using,

uh, one of the private vaults

like this is that it's outside

of the banking system.

It's not subject to banking law.

In the United States, after

9/11, the banks were closed for

a week.

If you had gold in your, uh,

safe deposit box, you couldn't

get to it.

>> RIVERO: Americans need to

store their gold anywhere they

think the banks and the

government can't get at it.

Right now, the laws are already

in place for the government to

open safety deposit boxes at

domestic banks.

>> NARRATOR: Though there are

only a few private gold vaults

believed to be hidden throughout

the world, some experts predict

there will soon be one in every

major city in the United States.

And as the price of gold

continues to rise, so will the

hunt for the rare metal.

In fact, some gold advocates

believe the future of gold

looks bright, and they say

it's only a matter of time

before many Americans will

secretly carry gold bars in

their pockets...

like this Valcambi gold card.

>> SCHIFF: You'll see I've got

a Valcambi bar already partially

broken.

Even if it was an entire bar, it

would fit in here just like

a credit card.

Here, I've got some of the

little chips that came off of

that piece, but each one is

identical and each one is worth

one gram of gold, which is

around $40 to $50 right now.

But who knows how much these

little chips will be worth in

the future?

>> NARRATOR: Could physical gold

actually replace credit cards

in the not-so-distant future?

Some believe that if there is

a currency crisis in the United

States, and the value of paper

money rapidly declines, gold

bars like this may be the only

way to pay for goods.

But will gold's value continue

to reflect America's fear index?

>> REICH: Gold may be an index

of our fear about the economy,

but it's a very crude index.

The fact of the matter is that

most people don't have savings,

they can't invest in gold or

anyplace else.

>> MULLER: Since 1999, the price

of gold in America is up 400%.

What do you think it's gonna do

once the dollar's worthless?

>> NARRATOR: Just how high might

the price of gold rise?

And will there really be

economic chaos when the truth

about this controversial

commodity is finally revealed?

>> HART: Gold is in it-its third

age.

The first age, gold was

symbolic of church power.

Then it became money.

Now, gold has been divorced from

money... officially.

And since it's not money

anymore, it's free to become

whatever it wants.

It's free to hit whatever

value... basically, what people

want to pay for it.

>> SEITZ-WALD: Many gold bugs

believe the price of gold will

go up almost indefinitely.

I've heard people say it'll

reach $7,000 or even $12,000

an ounce, which is almost ten

times what it is today.

>> SCHIFF: You have no idea

what, if any, value your dollars

will have in the future.

But you know how much value your

gold has; it's had value for

thousands of years and it will

still have value hundreds of

years from now.

>> NARRATOR: It has been more

than 40 years since President

Nixon "closed the gold window,"

and the rare commodity continues

to stir up controversy.

Will Americans ever know how

much gold the government has

on hand?

And how much it has cashed in?

Will secretive gold dealings

continue to manipulate the

market?

And if the nation's stockpile is

finally exposed, what will be

discovered-- a gold mine

or perhaps just fool's gold?

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