Posted on 03/14/2006 8:15:05 PM PST by TFFKAMM
Federal authorities investigating a man who smuggled money into the country have seized 250 counterfeit bank notes in billion-dollar denominations, they announced Tuesday.
The 250 bogus Federal Reserve notes had 1934 issue dates and were stained to make them look old, but no such currency exists, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
Federal authorities have not charged the man, Tekle Zigetta, in connection with the counterfeit notes, but warned that the sale or transfer of fake securities has increased in recent years. Scam artists typically sell phony government bank notes at a discounted value or use them as collateral to secure loans or make purchases.
"A billion is a substantial number, we want to ensure that no one was duped or fleeced by the passing of these documents," Kice said. "We also want to publicize this story to see if anyone out there has additional information to help us build a case."
Authorities opened an investigation into alleged currency smuggling by Zigetta in 2002 when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport with $37,000 in undeclared cash following a trip to South Korea.
Zigetta, 45, returned to South Korea during the probe, and was indicted in December on one count each of bulk cash smuggling, failure to declare more than $10,000 in cash, and making a false statement to federal authorities, Kice said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
How can it be a fake if the original never existed?
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
You only have to spend it once.
Exactly. It's "art". Anybody stupid enough to accept them as real is too damn stupid to possess real currency.
"Uhhh...I need change for a billion please......"
Oh, no... he just had to get greedy.. 100's were just toooooo small for him. Serves him right, greedy monster.
It's a damn good thing FDR didn't have 250 Billion he could get his hands on in 1934
Sure, you want that in 20 million dollar bills or 5million dollar bills...?
HR, my first thought was ... where on earth do you expect to find someone who can make change ... LOL
"I met a man who claimed he was a billionnaire.
"I said,'Oh, yeah? Prove it.'
"He pulled out two half-billion dollar bills out of his wallet.
"They had pictures of Bert Convy on them."
Stephen Wright
How can this whole idiotic story be true? Arresting a guy for a $1B note? ROFL. What they should have done is let keep it and try to pass it. See if anyone takes it and gives him change. THAT is the moron that should be arrested.
I gave my brother-in-law a check for $100 million on his birthday once, just to see if he would be enough of an ass to try to cash it. For a split second, he looked like he had just hit the lottery, then he just set it on fire.
I hope nobody arrests me...I have a green piece of paper that say "One kajillion bazillion dollars." (Interestingly enough, it has Hillary's picture on it.)
You're lucky he didn't have you arrested for passing a bogus check. [smirk]
even if you wanted to make change, where would you put it? or carry it?
One Billion dollars!
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