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This was in the '80s. It's different now. But in the '80s, during Japan and various other agencies like credit-rating agencies— the bubble, Nomura Securities had a "VIP" list of 5,000 people. that more than half the loans were made to gangsters, to Yakuza They had these two bosses—the big Tabuchi and the little gangs. So, to me it was an amazing thing. Here we have the Tabuchi, not related—who were later proved to be connected to government using tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to a big crime gang. They would take all these journalists, bail out companies that lent money to gangsters, and they were politicians, all the sort of top movers and shakers, and they'd lend all headed by former Finance Ministry officials. So you see a them a couple [of] million dollars, and they'd say: "Buy this link now between the Finance Ministry officials, the politicians stock." And then they would take every salesman in the country and gangsters. They're using taxpayer money to give to the and all their journalistic connections and say: "These are the gangsters. stocks you gotta buy now." And every housewife and small So I wrote this up in the English Nikkei and there was a huge businessman and doctor would buy these stocks, the price would reaction. Over 400 foreign journalists and magazines wrote go up and the VIPs would sell. So that was how they controlled. similar stories. Half the housing loans were to gangsters, right? Politics. Then Newsweek wrote a story almost identical to mine. And KC: You say it's different now. So how's it different? then the Nikkei, my own paper, said: "According to Newsweek, BF: Well, it's different players, different ways of handing out half the loans to the jusen companies are to Yakuza." And I the money. And in fact, that is the core of the problem which went to the editor. I said: "Hey, I wrote that story first. Why do we're dealing with. But we'll do this step by step because it's you say ‘According to Newsweek'?" They called me up and they easier to see the whole story then. gave me the Editor's Award and $50.00 [laughs] and then they So I got quite cynical about Japan, but the real clincher for me told me: "Mr Fulford, you know, you really shouldn't write stuff was the jusen housing loan scandal. This was a bunch of like that. It's just not done, and it could be dangerous." companies that lent only for real estate. After the Japanese bubble burst, it was the first time they were " A gonna use taxpayer money. By the When they were finally way, in 1992 the Japanese starting to clear up the bad government already knew they had A 200 trillion yen in bad debt, but the debt with the banks, I was newspapers only said two or three | finding that all sorts of people trillion. It wasn't until more than ten were dying... It was people years later that they finally admitted After that, they started watching me. They would not let me write anything except the stuff the government announced. So I started to realise that the Japanese press was not at all free. It turns out there was an editor at the Nikkei, Mr Otsuka, who won a bunch of awards for writing about the Itoman scandal...and then he was ihe whole aera what's who were going to testify, sudeenly sent olf to some weird appening in the right now— . subdivision and removed from the only they're not gonna have ten people who were going to reporting business. And he got very ears because they didn't borrow it " suspicious. He started following the y y prosecute people. P 8 from other Americans. They borrowed it from the rest of the world. So you'll see huge changes president around. It turns out they lent a hundred million dollars to gangsters—money that would never ahead. come back. And the Itoman scandal was a huge one where, basically, one of Japan's largest banks, the Sumitomo Bank, had Debt scams and murders been taken over by a crime syndicate. BR: I remember you said to Rense that you felt that, in your Anyway, I started to realise that the newspapers and the opinion, the US debt was $120 trillion. I went and looked it up politicians and the bureaucrats and the gangsters were all in and thought: "I wonder where that figure comes from..." So I'd together in some kind of crooked power structure that was totally like to ask you that. different from what people were seeing on their television and BF: I can tell you right now. The $66 trillion comes from the reading in their newspapers. And I got totally disgusted when essay by a Professor Kilborn that was published by the St Louis they started suppressing my stories. Federal Reserve Board branch in 2005. And that's the money So I quit the Nikkei. I worked as a freelancer for a while for they owe to American citizens—stuff they promised to pay, like the South China Morning Post and a bunch of places before I got Medicaid and social security and things like that. It's in that the job with Forbes. And at first, the people at Forbes were essay. You can find it. Now the other $53 trillion is the amount happy to let me write stories about gangsters. I did one on of dollars out in circulation outside the US. So add them Public Works that got a formal letter of protest from the Japanese together and you get $120 trillion. And not only that, a GDP of Embassy in Washington. I thought: "Gosh, I hit a sore point." $13 trillion. This is where the whole scam unravels. And then another story I did... When they were finally starting KC: So, you've got the housing... to clear up the bad debt with the banks, I was finding that all BEF: Alright. So, here's the point. I was working for the sorts of people were dying. And this was either committing Nihon Keizai Shimbun [Nikkei]; it's like the Japanese Wall Street suicide or disappearing, whatever. But this was not a typical, Journal. It's in Japanese, but it's their number-one what you call hara-kiri, suicide, where you did something bad business/finance newspaper by far. They were talking about and you kill yourself to apologise. It was people who were going pouring in tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to bail to testify, people who were going to prosecute people. For out these companies. There were some weird discussions about example, there was a financial scandal, and the president of Dai- "borrower responsibility". So I turned to them and said: "Well, Ichi Kangyo Bank, which is now part of Mizuho, was due to who are the borrowers?" testify. The day before he was going to testify, at 11 o'clock at And it turns out—my sources were people at the Bank of night his wife left the house and about 10 men in black clothing "When they were finally starting to clear up the bad debt with the banks, | was finding that all sorts of people were dying... It was people who were going to testify, people who were going to prosecute people." Debt scams and murders BR: I remember you said to Rense that you felt that, in your opinion, the US debt was $120 trillion. I went and looked it up and thought: "I wonder where that figure comes from..." So I'd like to ask you that. BF: I can tell you right now. The $66 trillion comes from the essay by a Professor Kilborn that was published by the St Louis Federal Reserve Board branch in 2005. And that's the money they owe to American citizens—stuff they promised to pay, like Medicaid and social security and things like that. It's in that essay. You can find it. Now the other $53 trillion is the amount of dollars out in circulation outside the US. So add them together and you get $120 trillion. And not only that, a GDP of $13 trillion. This is where the whole scam unravels. KC: So, you've got the housing... BEF: Alright. So, here's the point. I was working for the Nihon Keizai Shimbun [Nikkei]; it's like the Japanese Wall Street Journal. It's in Japanese, but it's their number-one business/finance newspaper by far. They were talking about pouring in tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to bail out these companies. There were some weird discussions about "borrower responsibility". So I turned to them and said: "Well, who are the borrowers?" And it turns out—my sources were people at the Bank of 14 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com