Saturday, February 14, 2015

Counterfeiters flourish in Queens

From the Forum:

A 13-member counterfeit ring, responsible for the production of over $86 million in counterfeit U.S. currency, has been taken down by the United States Secret Service. The last two defendants named in the scheme pleaded guilty last week to RICO conspiracy involving multiple acts of counterfeiting U.S. currency and money structuring. Two other co-conspirators of the 13 are Rego Park and Forest Hills residents.

The criminal enterprise involved the production, sale, and distribution of high-quality counterfeit $50 and $100 Federal Reserve notes. The Secret Service first detected the well-designed $100 in 1999. Since that time, over $86 million of this particular note has been seized globally. In addition, the crime ring was in the process of counterfeiting the “new” $100 note released in October 2013, including certain security features such as watermarks, security threads, and blue 3-D ribbons. According to the Secret Service, this new $100 is much more difficult to simulate, and there has not yet been a significant occurrence of its counterfeiting.

Queens does happen to be a focus for the agency right now, owing to nearby airports and the fact that a large portion of counterfeit is manufactured overseas, then brought in bulk to the United States. Additionally, in Queens, there are high populations of many of the groups known to be producing counterfeit overseas. Counterfeit produced in the United States is most frequently $20 Federal Reserve notes, while $100s are more commonly manufactured overseas.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Queens. The World's counterfeit borough.

Anonymous said...

so how come no names are mentioned here -- just my opinion --

Joe Moretti said...

Of course it flourishes, everything crap flourishes in Queens. The only thing that does not flourish, is good quality of life.

JQ said...

follow the funny money.

could these notes have been used to finance the suddenly hottest borough/travel spot/hedge fund invested in the world?

Anonymous said...

Wow - it only took 15 years to snag these guys?

Anonymous said...

China is the biggest counterfeiter of US courency and flushing is its laundry into the US.

Anonymous said...

"Wherever there's opportunity, the mafia will be there."
Johnny Kelly

Anonymous said...

Gonna be all immigrant type names....how come names are omitted? We know why.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Queens could be so great if all the crap wasn't flushed there. Its like the butt hole of the borough. No politician cares about Rockaway. I feel bad for the residents trying to make it better.