Bogus $1 million bills handed out by ministry seized

Denton Record-Chronicle via The Dallas Morning News ^ | June 6, 2006 | Donna Fielder

[monkapotamus]

Bogus $1 million bills handed out by ministry seized

Denton: Group's leader says Secret Service overzealous

05:33 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 6, 2006

By DONNA FIELDER / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – The U.S. Secret Service has seized bogus $1 million bills printed as religious tracts from a Denton ministry, saying the bills too closely resemble real money.

*snip*

Federal statutes govern production of anything that resembles currency, said Bill Flowers, assistant agent in charge of the Dallas office of the U.S. Secret Service.

*snip*

It is not necessary to intend to defraud someone to run afoul of federal law when making currency simulations, he said.

*snip*

Mark Lowery, special agent in charge of the Dallas district of the U.S. Secret Service, said that his office will be contacting the Secret Service office in Los Angeles to alert it to Living Waters Publications' role in the case...

[kinoxi]

Getting change at most banks would be a bitch.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Thank goodness. I almost accepted one of these yesterday, but I was a couple of dollars short to make change.

[shezza]

Federal statutes govern production of anything that resembles currency,

Uh oh...Milton Bradley better be watching their collective backs.

[Fresh Wind]

Better not try to pass one of these...

[monkapotamus]

Yours isn't loading for me but here's an alternate source:

[panaxanax]

"Federal statutes govern production of anything that resembles currency...."

Looks like the government is the biggest criminal in this case. They've been doing that since we went off the gold standard.

[MarkL]

I'll bet they were those counterfeit million dollar bills!

Mark

[mtbopfuyn]

I'll take a Big Mac and a large fries. Can you make change?

[Carry_Okie]

Maybe they're afraid that they might become useful.

Hyperinflation anyone?

Does anybody at Treasury know something we don't?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I generally only carry $25 Million bills.

[monkapotamus]

The Denton Record-Chronicle version:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Cache_of_tracts.5c2e2c82.html

[goldstategop]

$1 million bill? Oh well, if I could cash it, I would have set for life.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[TheBattman]

Bills made for novelties or advertisements must be 1 ½ times larger or less than three-quarters the size of a real bill. They may not contain anything that appears to be official seals. Agent Flowers said that recently, someone on the East Coast took one of the $1 million bills to a bank. The bank forwarded the bill to the Secret Service. The tract was traced back to the Great News Network in Denton, and the Dallas Secret Service office was notified.

The Great News Network was "not in regulation. We spoke with them and told them our concerns about these reproductions," Agent Flowers said. "They provided us with what they had in the office. We asked them not to be distributing them."

I still say the SS is being overzealous in this case (kind of funny that this gubmint branch bears those initials... unfortunate, or intentional???

The bills look just real enough to get attention, but anyone looking at them in-hand would immediately see them for something other th an real money. And when you consider that a $1 million bill is obsurd from the outset.... (at least until the US Dollar collapses due to so much over-printing and the devaluation/inflation that results.

[newzjunkey]

Looks as real as this POS which is more orange than the image suggests:

[newzjunkey]

Is a $1m bill outrageous? This actual $100,000 bill (1934) had a worth of $1,427,429.68 in 2005 dollars:

[monkapotamus]

[monkapotamus]