Once the domain of only skilled confidence artists and scammers, counterfeiting is now one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. The reason for the expansion of counterfeiting? Where expensive equipment and rare skills were once required in order to make good counterfeits, modern technology, including inkjet printers and desktop computers, has made counterfeiting accessible to amateurs. Essentially, counterfeiting involves the illegal manufacture of an imitation of something with the intent to deceive others into believing that it is the real thing. While many items are often counterfeited, including art, luxury clothing and accessories, jewelry, software, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, this article will focus on the counterfeiting of money.
In the United States, the main agency charged with investigating the counterfeiting of American currency is the Secret Service. Prior to the creation of the Secret Service in 1865, nearly one third of the currency in circulation in the United States was counterfeit. According to the Secret Service, “many of today’s counterfeiters have moved from the traditional method of offset printing, which has its own set of required skills, to computer-generated counterfeiting.” Even the best counterfeit notes today are produced using supplies and technology that can be purchased at a local office supply store.
Under federal law, it is a crime for anyone to manufacture, pass, or possess a counterfeit bill. 18 U.S.C. Section 471 provides for a 20 year prison sentence for anyone who, “with intent to defraud, falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, or alters any obligation or other security of the United States.” 18 U.S.C. Section 472 also provides for a 20 year prison sentence for anyone who, “with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells…or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States.” It is also a Class B felony for anyone to have in his possession any equipment that was used to manufacture counterfeit bills. The punishment for a Class B felony is up to 25 years imprisonment.
Recently, Albany-area individuals were indicted in the Northern District of New York with possessing and attempting to pass counterfeit bills. The seven count indictment alleges that Jeremy Zamyslowski and Terrie Carney of Tannersville, New York, possessed 173 counterfeited and altered bills. According to information contained in the indictment, it is alleged that the two individuals removed the ink from five-dollar bills and printed fifty dollar bills on the same paper. This process is commonly referred to as “bleaching” or “washing” the bills. It is alleged that the purported conspirators attempted to pass the bills at a Walmart and Grand Union. The total amount of the counterfeit bills recovered by law enforcement is approximately $6,550.
In counterfeiting cases, the general strategy of the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies involved is to work backwards from the recovery of counterfeit bills. The process is usually initiated when a merchant or bank notifies law enforcement that someone has passed or has attempted to pass a counterfeit bill. Law enforcement then attempts to identify the person that passed the bill. Once that person is identified, it becomes easier for law enforcement to identify the person or people who manufactured the bill. Finally, law enforcement tries to determine if other counterfeit bills that have been recovered by law enforcement match the bills they believe to have been manufactured or possessed by their suspect, and then uses other evidence to connect the individual with that bill. The result is that a person can be charged in a separate count for every transaction in which a counterfeit bill was purportedly passed.
This article was written by New Jersey white collar criminal defense lawyer Nace Naumoski.
