SOUTH FLORIDA ARTIST CONVICTED OF COUNTERFEITING

United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Jean Phineas Losier (41, Wellington) guilty of conspiracy to deal in counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. He faces up to five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the trial testimony and court documents, Losier began manufacturing a specific United States counterfeit note (designated by the United States Secret Service as D23548 and D23548A) in 2008. Over the ensuing years, he engaged in a substantial counterfeit relationship with co-defendant Mercury Thompson, and others, to sell and pass the counterfeit $100 and $50 notes. Losier operated alone in the manufacturing process. Using laser printer and toner technology, and an elaborate bleaching and re-printing process, he stripped the ink from genuine $1 bills and then manufactured counterfeit $100 and $50 bills on the remaining paper.

On January 14, 2014, Secret Service agents executed search warrants at a Wellington apartment where Losier had manufactured the notes. The agents seized manufacturing devices and also located bleached genuine $1 Federal Reserve notes, chemicals and chemical residue, as well as other indicators of high volume bleaching. Detailed molds and templates, reflecting the image of genuine United States security watermarks, were located inside the residence. Losier, an artist, had etched the watermark molds.

Forensic analyses of the seized electronic media and counterfeit notes revealed Losier’s detailed manufacturing process, including images of the notes at virtually every stage of the manufacturing process. Investigators were able to forensically match the electronic devices to counterfeit $100 bills seized at various stores in the Jacksonville area during April and May 2010, including bills seized from the St. Johns Towns Center. The forensic comparison of the images also matched $4,200 of counterfeit $100 notes seized from a rental vehicle in which Thompson was present on July 12, 2012, and $10,000 in $100 counterfeit notes that another individual purchased from Losier on January 10, 2014.

According to Secret Service forensic examiners, the value of the known counterfeit notes (D23548 and D23548A) passed in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida since late 2008 is more than $3.5 million. The known amount passed worldwide exceeds $4.3 million. After Losier’s arrest on January 14, 2014, the passing of these designated counterfeit notes ceased almost entirely.

To read the complete article, see:
Jury Convicts South Florida Artist In $4 Million Counterfeit Currency Conspiracy (www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/jury-convicts-south-florida-artist-4-million-counterfeit-currency-conspiracy)

When Jean Losier wasn't creating paintings and sculptures for clients at his South Florida studio, prosecutors say he was churning out more than $US4.5 million ($6 million) worth of counterfeit $50 and $100 bills at his home.

Demand was so great for his fake currency that the ink on some of the notes seized by federal agents was still damp and some of the notes were stuck together.

His website describes him as a mega-artist born in 1974; "in the illustrious country of Port Au Prince, Haiti" who "migrated to the promise land of the United States of America as a youth".

It says he is a prolific artist of elite drawings, paintings and sculptures, whose work has been exhibited widely and featured in the movie My Best Friend's Wedding in partnership with another Florida artist.

Losier was born in Haiti but moved to the US when he was three; it is likely he will be deported after he serves his prison sentence.

To read the complete article, see:
Florida artist who produced more than $US4.5 million in counterfeit money pleads guilty (www.smh.com.au/world/florida-artist-who-produced-more-than-us45-million-in-counterfeit-money-pleads-guilty-20151106-gksiwq.html)

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