News

Counterfeit kingpin tried in Brooklyn federal court

August 1, 2016

Lebanese native Louay Ibrahim Houssein was hauled from Malaysia to U.S. Madgistrate Judge Lois Bloom in Brooklyn Federal Court on July 26, according to a news report. He was charged with leading a massive counterfeiting ring tied to Lebanon and Iran and accredited by prosecutors of having over $800 million U.S. dollars for sale. His organization was also suspected of offering to smuggle weapons, drugs and fake money through U.S. ports.

"The reliability of U.S. currency is a pillar of the global financial system," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said in announcing the extradition. He said Houssein and his co-conspirators "exploited that reliability and threatened the stability it provides, all to serve their own greed. This investigation sends the message around the world that counterfeiters, wherever located, can and will be brought to justice."

Originally arrested in 2014 along with two co-consipirators, Nazer A-Shekh Mosa aka Mohammed Hasan Haidar and Moufak Al Sababi (both pleaded guilty prior to Houssein's July trial), the 42-year-old was put on lockdown by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy until the terms of Houssein's bond package could be finalized.

The perpetrator was the subject of a "long-term undercover investigation" that went on for years. He allegedly sold $150,000 in fake $100 bills, and nearly $150,000 in phony euros to a Secret Service agent posing as a member of a New York-based "criminal enterprise." Houssein tried to sell twice as much on Cyprus in 2013.