[Camden, NJ] January 29, 2020 — A federal court judge in Camden, New Jersey has sentenced admitted counterfeit coins importer, Johnathan A. Kirschner, 35, of Moorestown, New Jersey, to 10.5 years in prison. After being alerted by members of the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF) about the sale of counterfeit coins to unsuspecting buyers, investigators discovered and confiscated at Kirschner’s home fake gold and silver coins and bogus ingots that would have been worth more than $46 million if they were genuine, according to ACEF. Full story here: http://news.coinupdate.com/counterfeit-coins-importer-sentenced-to-10-5-years-in-prison/
Wow, that's very interesting. You don't hear about counterfeit dealers getting sentenced very often. More often the bad apples are convicted of fraud, money laundering, or some other financial scheme involving bullion pieces.
I'm glad to hear that. I'm going to check out that website about counterfeit foundation. There is a dealer in my area that sells fakes and they aren't marked on the coin. I detest these people. I really do. I hope this guy serves every darn day.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/...ing-federal-agent-importing-counterfeit-coins Case at the time he took his guilty plea
The story is also posted on CoinWeek, if the site above doesn't work: https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/acef-helps-feds-crack-counterfeit-coins-case/
Glad they got this guy. And made an example of him. But you know there are many more people doing the same thing, because when money is involved, etc. So did they really do anything in the overall fakes market? Probably not. Are any of his "victims" getting restitution? Maybe a fraction, maybe nothing. Usually in a scam like this it's the victims own greed that ends up costing them. I'm not saying it's right, or it's what they deserve, it's just that greed is a huge human character flaw. We all have it to some degree.
He didn't steal enough to get away with it. The biggest Crooks in America always walk away from it with a stern warning.