The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 33, July 31, 2005, Article 18

A NEW KING OF COUNTERFEITING?

David Gracey writes: "It has been many years since I bought
a copy of "Rolling Stone" magazine but the cover of the July 28,
2005 issue caught my eye with "King of Counterfeit; the criminal
genius who cracked the new $100 bill".

Counterfeiting was mostly a family business passed from one
generation to the next and Art Williams learned the art of
counterfeiting from his stepfather. The changes in US currency in
1996 almost put him out of business but he found non-acidic paper
that did not react to the counterfeit detector "pen", found a way
to imitate authentic currency paper, developed a way to mimic
the security thread and watermark found in the latest currency,
and applied color shifting ink using auto paint and a rubber stamp
from Kinkos. By keeping his operation small and passing
counterfeit money in small towns while traveling across the country
he eluded the authorities.

Once he was arrested with $60,000 in counterfeit $100 bills but
the case was dismissed on the grounds of illegal search and seizure.
Of course he was finally caught (otherwise this story would not
have been told); received only a 3 year sentence because there
was no physical evidence in his possession at the time of his arrest,
only statements from his fellow conspirators, but he had to admit
passing bills in Texas and Oklahoma. The latest 2004 series may
be impossible for him to counterfeit. To get the full story visit
your library."

[The article is not available online (as the comedians say,
"What's up with that?"), but I managed to photocopy the article
at the local library and here's an excerpt. "Art Williams" is
not the man's real name. -Editor]

"At thirty-two years old, Art Williams, Jr. is a dying breed.
In an era when ninety percent of American counterfeiters are
amateurs who use inkjet printers to run off play money that
can't even fool a McDonald's cashier, he is one of the few
remaining craftsmen, schooled in a centuries-old practice.
He is also an innovator who combined old-world techniques
with digital technology to create notes that were so good an
FBI agent is said to have once counted $3,300 of his fakes
on the hood of a police cruiser, then handed them back. By
some estimates, Williams printed about $10 million in nine
years, making him one of the most successful American
counterfeiters of the past quarter-century."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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