NEW YORK (AP) – A Queens man and his two sons were arrested on Wednesday morning and charged with operating a counterfeit money ring that specialized in phony $100 bills.
Over past six years, the men, all from Uzbekistan, allegedly passed an estimated $9.5 million in fake currency while running a video store in Queens, police said.
Yakub Yusupov, 44, and his sons Eduard, 23, and Pinchas, 19, were awaiting arraignment on counterfeiting charges in federal court in Brooklyn. The names of their attorneys were not immediately available.
The investigation was launched in 2003 based on a tip received by the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Division during an investigation of CD and DVD pirating. After the source revealed the defendants were selling fake $100 bills at their video store, undercover officers were sent there to make purchases, police said.
About $7 million in fake bills has been confiscated. Another $2.5 million remains in circulation, police said.
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