ICYMI: Florida Politics: "Jeff Atwater wins first round of $1 billion bonds fight with feds"

“Jeff Atwater wins first round of $1 billion bonds fight with feds”
Florida Politics
Story by Jim Rosica
February 9, 2017
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Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has scored a preliminary win in his fight against the federal government over U.S. savings bonds he holds as unclaimed property.
The U.S. Treasury has agreed to redeem “just over 1,000 bonds, worth a little more than half a million dollars, excluding accrued interest,” Atwater spokeswoman Ashley Carr said Thursday.
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In November, Atwater sued the feds for that amount, saying they had refused to make good on matured U.S. savings bonds he holds as unclaimed property.
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“The bonds they’ve agreed to redeem are those in our physical possession and bonds for which we had records and had previously returned to the U.S. Treasury,” Carr said. Atwater’s office plans to give the proceeds from the bonds “to whom they belong, or their heirs.”
“We’re a long way from the finish line, but it’s a win worth celebrating,” Carr said.
The Department of Financial Services, which Atwater heads, is holding thousands of “unclaimed, matured savings bonds that were originally registered to individuals with last-known addresses in the State of Florida,” his suit says. Some of the bonds date back to the 1930s.
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Florida’s piece is one small part of the pie: “… over $19 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. savings bonds remain outstanding nationwide,” Atwater has said.