Nah, those guys were filipino from what I’ve read. If you google their photos you may find that you concur, based upon their appearance, fwiw.
The Phillipines has a history that is absolutely perfect for con artists, and this isn’t the first time by any means, usually weaving romantic stories of crashed B24 bombers lost in the jungles full of treasures, secret intriques with various governments, etc. Counterfeit government securities are nothing new, but wouldn’t you be initially skeptical of even one 1934 dated instrument denominated in a cool billion? The “Kennedy” bonds shown in the photos would ostensibly have been issued sometime in the 1980s, judging from the depiction of the space shuttle, though none were issued that anyone knows about.
the incident has a number of very puzzling details. The men appear to have been released, despite presumably carrying forged currency instruments.
There is a story behind this incident which is simply not being told. Who is going to even deal with bonds with these face values without verifying them with Treasury?