Global Counterfeiting Ring Operated NJ Printing Plant

WASHINGTON, DC—An international counterfeiting ring, which ran a printing plant in Cherry Hill, NJ, has been given the unofficial distinction of operating the most prolific scam ever perpetrated against U.S. currency.

The ring is responsible for producing in excess of $77 million in fake $100 bills since its inception in 1999, including $32 million passed or seized in the U.S. since 2005. Much of it was cranked out in Israel, but this past January, the New Jersey plant was enlisted.

A total of 13 arrests have been made in connection to the counterfeiting ring, charged with racketeering and other offenses.

The operation was invaded by authorities, which used flash grenades and heavily armed officers to storm the building, according to the Courier-Post. Witnesses told the newspaper that they saw "high-tech" printing equipment carted off by the authorities. Uncut sheets of $100 bills, known to the Secret Service as C-23332, were found inside a warehouse unit.

Among the seized equipment were two offset presses and 20 printing plates bearing the U.S. Treasury seal, serial numbers and the 100 numeral in color-shifting ink, the paper reported, citing the indictment.

Prosecutors charge that Itzhak Loz and Ronen Fakiro purchased the warehouse unit in January and had printing equipment shipped there from Israel a month later. The move to New Jersey was an effort to reduce their operating costs.

The indictment was announced Aug. 7 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.