Billion Dollar Bills
Federal law enforcement agents said Tuesday that they'd seized 250 counterfeit Federal Reserve notes last week from a Los Angeles area apartment, each bearing a $1 billion denomination.
The notes purport to date from 1934 and bear a picture of President Grover Cleveland. There's some irony in that choice. According to Wikipedia, Cleveland disliked the idea of giving people money. He apparently vetoed a farm-aid bill because "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character...."
The government's press release makes it sound as if someone actually believed the notes were real: “We receive calls on a regular basis from people who have acquired what turn out to be bogus Federal Reserve notes and are upset because the United States government refuses to redeem them,” said James Todak, deputy special agent in charge for the Secret Service in Los Angeles. “You would think the $1 billion denomination would be a give away that these notes are fakes, but some people are still taken in.”
Whoever "some people" are, they probably had a hard time making change.
Search
About
Categories
Archives
Syndication Feed