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1996 : (COUNTERFEITING & TERROR FINANCING : SUPERDOLLAR CASE : SECRET SERVICE PERSUADES GAO TO DELETE PORTIONS OF A REPORT ON COUNTERFEITING WHICH REFERRED TO RUMORS OF A MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRY PRINTING US $100 DOLLAR BILLS TO FINANCE TERRORISM) Large-scale investigations involve international gangs, suspects suited to spy novels and questions of national security. One such case, unsolved since the early 1990s, focuses on what is known as a “superdollar,” a nearly flawless $100 bill that has been seized in the United States, Asia, Europe and the former Soviet Union. The probe is so secret that the Secret Service routinely declines comment. The agency went as far as persuading the federal Government Accounting Office to delete portions of a 1996 report on counterfeiting that mentioned rumors of a Middle East country printing U.S. dollars to finance terrorism.- — “Secret Service tracks mystery of fake fortune,” By Henry Pierson Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer, Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 2003

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JANUARY 25, 2003 : (”IRAQI DINARS TO DOLLARS” COUNTERFEITING CASE : SECRET SERVICE FOLLOWS COUNTERFEITING RING’S COURIER TO MIAMI FROM BOGOTA, COLUMBIA; COURIER GIVES MONEY TO OSCAR BELTRAN, WHO IS PROMPTLY ARRESTED; HE AGREES TO PASS THE FAKE BILLS TO HIS CONTACT IN ORLANDO) The printing plant in Colombia was discovered as the result of a tip to the U.S. Customs Service that about $1 million was about to be smuggled into Florida.The tip was passed to the Secret Service office in Bogota, from which Agent Rafael Barros followed the ring’s courier on a Jan. 25 flight to Miami.
“This was on the fly, and decisions were being made quickly between offices, and for federal agencies that’s somewhat unique,” Billings said.
In South Florida, Secret Service agents arrested Oscar Beltran, a Miami resident, after the courier gave him the money. Beltran agreed to deliver the bills as planned to a Colombian living in Orlando, according to records..— “Secret Service tracks mystery of fake fortune,” By Henry Pierson Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer, Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 2003

FEBRUARY 11, 2003 : (COLUMBIA : “IRAQI DINARS TO DOLLARS” COUNTERFEITING CASE : RAID NETS RINGLEADER WHO SAYS HE PAID LEFTIST TERRORIST GROUP FARC TO PROTECT THE PRINTING PRESSES) Unlike the superdollar case [an a yet unsolved case from the early 1990s], agents know where the Orlando bills were printed. On Feb. 11, Colombian police raided the printing plant on a farm near Cali.
The $20 million worth of counterfeit bills was the largest seizure in the country’s history, according to the Secret Service. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of counterfeit U.S. currency, followed by Bulgaria.
The ringleader, Hector Tabarez, told Colombian police that he had regularly paid the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America’s oldest revolutionary group known by its Spanish acronym as FARC, to protect the printing presses, agents said.
The use of Iraqi bank notes didn’t make sense to investigators.
“It seems like an odd place to get their paper when they’ve got Venezuela right across the border,” said Agent Kevin Billings, one of the Orlando supervisors. Counterfeiters typically use an inexpensive currency and bleach off the old ink before printing the fakes.
Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, is the usual choice of Colombian counterfeiters. It’s almost as inexpensive as the Iraqi note — worth less than a penny each — and is printed on paper from the same company in Massachusetts that supplies the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Billings said.
Currency-grade paper is essential to pass the touch test. Agents say cheap paper makes counterfeit bills feel slick while real ones are rough and durable.— “Secret Service tracks mystery of fake fortune,” By Henry Pierson Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer, Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 2003

MARCH 1, 2003 : (”IRAQI DINARS TO DOLLARS” COUNTERFEITING CASE : ROUGHLY $20 MILLION FAKE BILLS HAVE BEEN SEIZED IN COLUMBIA SINCE JAN 26, 2003; COULD IT BE STATE SPONSORED?) Since that night [Jan 26, 2003], nearly $20 million of the same counterfeit bills have been seized in Colombia. And the U.S. Secret Service and other intelligence agencies are questioning why a counterfeiting ring protected by Marxist guerrillas had access to bank notes from Iraq. “It’s very important to the Secret Service to see what we can find out,” Agent Gerald A. Cavis, head of the Secret Service in Orlando, said Friday of the Iraq connection. “We’ll look at it in particular with other intelligence agencies to see if it is state-sponsored.”
The possible link between Iraq and counterfeit U.S. currency has prompted the Secret Service to send similar bills to Washington for inspection. Agents say they don’t know where the investigation will lead.”We don’t find that a significant amount of counterfeit currency is related to terrorism, but it has an increased significance to us since 9-11,” Cavis said.
Counterfeit currency has been a persistent problem in Orlando since Central Florida became an international destination in the 1970s. Most local cases involve $5,000 to $10,000 passed at area tourist attractions and stores along International Drive and U.S. Highway 192, according to federal court records. Counterfeiters sell bills for as little as 20 cents on the dollar to people who pass them at banks and stores. The profit comes from pocketing the change. Nationally, counterfeiting cost banks, businesses and residents $43 million in 2002. By law, anyone duped with a counterfeit bill bears the loss. — “Secret Service tracks mystery of fake fortune,” By Henry Pierson Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer, Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 2003