Secret Service Arrests 5 Accused of Printing Counterfeit $80,000

Secret Service agents arrested five suspected counterfeiters after one of them unsuccessfully tried to pass a phony $20 bill at a store in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said Friday.

Special Agent Douglas Carver said the group printed about $80,000 in $20 bills at an out-of-business Northridge print shop. But the suspects were arrested Feb. 8 and 9 before many of the average-quality bills were believed to have been passed, he said.

Abdol Hali Jalily, Marcus Martinov, 20, and Nader Korhani, 20, all of Woodland Hills, were arrested, as was Jeffrey Hasselback, 21, of Northridge, and Korash Sepehr, 18, of Reseda, Carver said. All were released without bail after appearing before a U.S. magistrate, except for Jalily, who was required to post $25,000 in bail.

Carver said Jalily, whose age was not available, had worked at the print shop before it closed. Jalily gained access to the shop without its owner’s knowledge and printed the counterfeit money, he said. Some of the bills were passed by the suspects at businesses in the Woodland Hills area, Carver said.

When one of the suspects attempted to buy something at a store with the bogus money on Feb. 8, the bill was spotted as a fake, and he was arrested by Los Angeles police, Carver said. A Secret Service investigation then led to the other suspects, he said.

Carver said the alleged counterfeiters destroyed most of the bogus money shortly after it was printed. About $10,000 in finished bills were seized at the suspects’ homes. Authorities said they did not know how many bills were passed at local businesses. But authorities said the suspects indicated that they had been arrested before many of the bills were used.

Carver said the bogus bills appear real enough so that some still in circulation may not be noticed until they are deposited at banks.

“People might be passing the notes unknowingly,” he said. “But once they reach a bank they will be noticed.”