SOF
04-07-2005, 10:42 AM
Queens counterfeit ring raided
BY LINDSAY FABER AND JEROME BURDI
STAFF WRITERS
A Queens man and his two sons were arrested Wednesday on charges of participating in a counterfeit money ring that circulated an estimated $10 million in fake $100 bills over the past six years, police said.
Yakub Yusupov, 44, and his sons Eduard, 23, and Pinchas, 19, all Uzbeki natives with ties to Israel :mad54: , were arraigned on counterfeiting charges last night in federal court in Brooklyn. Law enforcement officials said they were expected to be released on a joint $500,000 bond by the end of the week.
The three men, from Jamaica, are believed to have handled about $100,000 of the roughly $10 million that was put into circulation, according to Richard Staropoli, the assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Service's New York City office. About 30 more arrests are expected in connection with the ring.
Police believe the ring is one of the largest to have been cracked in the city in recent years.
"It's a good-sized operation," one police source said.
The investigation into the three began in November 2003 when detectives from the NYPD's Intelligence Division got a tip during an investigation into a counterfeit DVD and CD operation being run out of a video store at 87-79 Parsons Blvd., police said.
The Secret Service, as it turned out, was already looking into that store in connection with the illegal money ring, Staropoli said.
As the investigation unfolded, with undercover detectives infiltrating the group and making purchases, investigators were able to get their hands on counterfeit bills, which were being sold in bundles at a discount.
"They might sell them at 50 percent of the face value if they know you, or 75 percent of the face value if they don't know you," Staropoli said.
About $7 million in counterfeit bills has been recovered. Police estimate an additional $2.5 million in bogus currency remains in circulation.
The bills are only identifiable as fake with a magnifying glass, which shows that the stars in the Treasury seal are actually circles with tiny spokes coming out of them, authorities said.
"Money doesn't grow on trees or anywhere legally outside of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement. "It's essential to crush any tampering with so fundamental an underpinning of the nation's economy."
The men were picked up at their home on 167th Street in Jamaica yesterday after flying into Kennedy Airport from Israel. Yusupov's wife was clearly distraught at her apartment last night, saying, "I'm confused, I'm confused," but declining to comment further.
A cousin, 22, also at the Jamaica home, said his relatives were innocent and had been framed.
"They were just trying to make a decent living. They were definitely set up," he said.
Authorities were investigating whether the counterfeit money was actually produced in Israel and brought over here for sale, Staropoli said.
BY LINDSAY FABER AND JEROME BURDI
STAFF WRITERS
A Queens man and his two sons were arrested Wednesday on charges of participating in a counterfeit money ring that circulated an estimated $10 million in fake $100 bills over the past six years, police said.
Yakub Yusupov, 44, and his sons Eduard, 23, and Pinchas, 19, all Uzbeki natives with ties to Israel :mad54: , were arraigned on counterfeiting charges last night in federal court in Brooklyn. Law enforcement officials said they were expected to be released on a joint $500,000 bond by the end of the week.
The three men, from Jamaica, are believed to have handled about $100,000 of the roughly $10 million that was put into circulation, according to Richard Staropoli, the assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Service's New York City office. About 30 more arrests are expected in connection with the ring.
Police believe the ring is one of the largest to have been cracked in the city in recent years.
"It's a good-sized operation," one police source said.
The investigation into the three began in November 2003 when detectives from the NYPD's Intelligence Division got a tip during an investigation into a counterfeit DVD and CD operation being run out of a video store at 87-79 Parsons Blvd., police said.
The Secret Service, as it turned out, was already looking into that store in connection with the illegal money ring, Staropoli said.
As the investigation unfolded, with undercover detectives infiltrating the group and making purchases, investigators were able to get their hands on counterfeit bills, which were being sold in bundles at a discount.
"They might sell them at 50 percent of the face value if they know you, or 75 percent of the face value if they don't know you," Staropoli said.
About $7 million in counterfeit bills has been recovered. Police estimate an additional $2.5 million in bogus currency remains in circulation.
The bills are only identifiable as fake with a magnifying glass, which shows that the stars in the Treasury seal are actually circles with tiny spokes coming out of them, authorities said.
"Money doesn't grow on trees or anywhere legally outside of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement. "It's essential to crush any tampering with so fundamental an underpinning of the nation's economy."
The men were picked up at their home on 167th Street in Jamaica yesterday after flying into Kennedy Airport from Israel. Yusupov's wife was clearly distraught at her apartment last night, saying, "I'm confused, I'm confused," but declining to comment further.
A cousin, 22, also at the Jamaica home, said his relatives were innocent and had been framed.
"They were just trying to make a decent living. They were definitely set up," he said.
Authorities were investigating whether the counterfeit money was actually produced in Israel and brought over here for sale, Staropoli said.