• Diuretic_Materialism [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      I'm pretty sure this is still illegal, he's attempting to put the money into circulation by giving people the false impression that it is real legal tender.

      Like hypothetically if you're so charismatic that you manage to convince a bank teller that a piece of printer paper you wrote "Gay Sex" on with a crayon is actual legal tender I still think that counts as counterfeiting, because you're still putting false currency into circulation.

      • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]
        ·
        7 months ago

        the problem is its a rich guy allegedly doing this to homeless people

        The least likely to be treated fairly under the law of this country scenario I can think of other than if it was 1820 and he was doing this to actual slaves

        • Diuretic_Materialism [he/him]
          ·
          7 months ago

          Oh I doubt he'd ever see the inside of a jail cell over this.

          However, if enough people reported him for this it maybe enough for the Dept. of the Treasury to send him a notice or something which would probably scare him into not doing it anymore.

          • SkingradGuard [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            7 months ago

            the Dept. of the Treasury to send him a notice or something which would probably scare him into not doing it anymore.

            What'll likely happen is that he'll claim he's being censored by the "woke homeless loving radical liberal leftists" or something

    • Cruxifux@feddit.nl
      ·
      7 months ago

      Okay. But surely if it’s illegal for you to attempt to use it as legal tender it must be illegal to give it to people under that pretence, no?

      • D61 [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        I bet I bet I bet....

        Because its just being given to another person but no given to a cashier to pay for something, its "not illegal"

        The internet says... I'm wrong... hooray!

        https://abovethelaw.com/2024/05/admit-counterfeit-bills-homeless/

        But if we take him at his word, he is at the very least in breach of 18 U.S. Code § 472:

        Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

        Of note, the unsuspecting homeless people he’d ensnare in this scheme would lack the requisite intent to defraud, meaning the only participant in the hypothetical transaction actually committing any crime is McEntee himself.

        That said, while a homeless person duped by a stunt like this would not commit a federal crime if they tried to pass a bill they believed to be genuine, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be arrested for the attempt. Or worse, given that George Floyd was stopped for attempting to spend a counterfeit bill when he the police killed him.

        • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]
          ·
          7 months ago

          that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be arrested for the attempt. Or worse, given that George Floyd was stopped for attempting to spend a counterfeit bill when he the police killed him.

          precisely

          demonic country

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      If the American legal system is remotely sane (which is a big if) then the important question is the intent. If you use the prop money as a prop it is not a crime but if you pass it on, deceiving people to think it is real money then you've crossed the line.