Jacksonville, Florida - United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Jean Phineas Losier (41, Wellington) to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to deal in counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. A federal jury in Jacksonville convicted him in June 2015. Losier also faces counterfeit manufacturing charges in the Southern District of Florida.
According to 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 business relationship with co-defendant Mercury Thompson, and others, to sell and pass the counterfeit $100 and $50 notes.
On Jan. 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. The forensic comparison of the images also matched $4,200 of counterfeit $100 notes seized from a rental vehicle in which Thompson had been present on July 12, 2012, and $10,000 in $100 counterfeit notes that another individual had purchased from Losier on Jan. 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 Jan. 14, 2014, the passing of these designated counterfeit notes ceased almost entirely.
Mercury Thompson (39, Delray Beach) pleaded guilty on May 8, 2015, and was later sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Delray Beach Police Department, the Boynton Beach Police Department, and the Boca Raton Police Department. The United States Attorneys’ Offices for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida participated in this investigation and prosecution. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Coolican and A. Tysen Duva prosecuted the Middle District of Florida case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
