The Riga District Court will continue the hearing of the appeal against the verdict of the court of first instance on June 15 at 14:30, which sentenced four men to actual prison terms for counterfeiting 3.5 million US dollars, the court informed the LETA agency, writes LETA.
The defendants in the case are Alexander Fomichev, Viktor Zhdanovich, Normunds Yushka, Ilmars Krievins, Maris Popov, and Sergey Yakovlev.
The court of first instance sentenced Yushka to six years in prison, Fomichev to five years. Zhdanovich received four years in prison, while Krievins and Yakovlev were each sentenced to three years. Popov was given a suspended sentence of four years.
All defendants were also placed under probation supervision for one year.
Earlier, the prosecution reported that six individuals were charged with the manufacture and storage of counterfeit banknotes in the denomination of 100 US dollars as part of an organized group with the intent to distribute them, as well as their dissemination.
According to the case materials, the defendants, acting out of selfish motives, assigned roles and carried out coordinated actions to manufacture and store counterfeit 100-dollar banknotes with the aim of distributing them on a large scale.
Members of the organized group equipped a printing house in Riga, adapted the premises for its needs, acquired and installed the necessary equipment, and, under the guise of legitimate activity, carried out mass production of counterfeit foreign currency — 100-dollar banknotes.
Some of the counterfeit banknotes were stored in the printing house, some at the residences of the participants, and some in the premises of another businessman.
In total, the group produced, and the State Police seized, 35,745 counterfeit banknotes in the denomination of 100 US dollars, amounting to a total of 3.5 million dollars (3,167,759 euros).
Representatives of the State Police reported to journalists back in April 2016 that in September 2014, three individuals were detained for distributing counterfeit 100-dollar banknotes, but at that time, their origin could not be established. In the following years, it was determined in cooperation with partners that similar banknotes were being circulated in Latvia, the USA, and the UK.
As a result of analytical work, it was established that the possible location of the printing house was in Latvia.
Subsequently, on April 15, 2016, several individuals were detained, 13 searches were conducted, and physical evidence was seized.
The quality of the counterfeit US dollars was of a high standard. This is the largest volume of counterfeit money discovered in the history of Latvia.
The criminal group was uncovered thanks to cooperation with the United States Secret Service.
