I think I need to go buy me a Shovel and Get down to MEXICO...........
WASHINGTON - The businessman arrived at the Treasury Department carrying a suitcase stuffed with about $5.2 million. The bills were decomposing, nearly unrecognizable, and he asked to swap them for a cashier's check. He said the money came from Mexico.
Money like this normally arrives in an armored truck or insured shipping container after a bank burns or a vault floods. It doesn't just show up at the visitor's entrance on a Tuesday morning. But the banking habits of Franz Felhaber had stopped making sense to the government long ago.
For the past few years, authorities say, he and his family have popped in and out of U.S. banks, looking to change about $20 million in buried treasure for clean cash.
The money is always the same — decaying $100 bills from the 1970s and 1980s.
It's the story that keeps changing:
_It was an inheritance.
_Somebody dug up a tree and there it was.
_It was found in a suitcase buried in an alfalfa field.
_A relative found a treasure map.
No matter where it came from or who found it, that buried treasure stands to make someone rich.
It could also send someone to jail.
Maybe it was the visit from investigators or maybe someone realized the bank visits weren't working, but Felhaber apparently changed strategies.
In January 2006, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing received a package containing about $136,000 from Jose Carrillo-Valles, Felhaber's uncle. Felhaber's business was listed as the return address. The letter explained the money had been stored in a basement for 22 years.
Though customs officials were suspicious by then, there was no clear evidence of a crime, just a lot of unanswered questions. So, two months later, the Treasury mailed a check, which was deposited into Carrillo-Valles' account.
Following the money, investigators interviewed Carrillo-Valles and his wife. Each denied ever sending or receiving the money, according to a government affidavit.
As for the $120,000 wired to Jose's account from the Federal Reserve a year earlier, they allegedly said it was an inheritance. Esther said Jose's mother had recently died.
Authorities don't believe the inheritance story. For starters, they say Jose's mother was still alive when the $120,000 was exchanged. They also traced a wire transfer from Jose's account to someone named Saenz-Pardo shortly after it was deposited.
Customs investigators now believed Carrillo-Valles was acting as an intermediary, taking a cut of the money and sending the rest to Saenz-Pardo or someone else in Mexico.
Twice, reporters called Carrillo-Valles on his cell phone to ask about the arrangement and confirm his discussions with investigators. First, he said he did not speak English. When a Spanish-speaking reporter called back, he said he could not hear her, and hung up.
In April 2007, the case moved from being suspicious to becoming a criminal investigation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called the Justice Department, saying Felhaber had just arrived in person at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with about $1.2 million.
It's not illegal to find money. Depending on where it's found, there might be a bureaucratic process to follow or taxes to be paid, but the discovery itself is not a crime.
There are strict rules, however, about bringing money into the United States. Import documents identified the $1.2 million as belonging to Jose Carrillo-Valles. Based on their investigation so far, authorities believe that was a lie — a violation that carries up to five years in prison.
But Washington federal prosecutor William Cowden decided to wait. Maybe Felhaber would return with even more.
It paid off. This April, Felhaber was back at the Treasury, this time with a suitcase containing $5.2 million. Investigators say they have found no import documents filed for this deal, a violation of cash smuggling laws that also carries up to five years in prison
Prosecutors moved in. Felhaber's two Treasury visits gave them probable cause to seize the money — both the $1.2 million and the $5.2 million.
They told a federal magistrate in June that they suspected it was all drug money that had been buried or hidden inside a wall for decades.
"Given that the money is coming north from Mexico, that both conflicting and cockamamie stories have been told about its origins, and that all the stories of how it got to be found are fantastical, I strongly suspect that the Felhaber currency is the proceeds of illegal bulk narcotics sales," ICE investigator Stephen A. Schneider told the magistrate
Felhaber says he's still not sure what all the fuss is about. At times he says he has no idea where the money came from, but he is always certain it has nothing to do with drugs.
None of the documents filed in federal court accuses Felhaber or his relatives of being involved in drugs. They leave open the possibility that somebody merely came across a cache of drug money, forgotten or abandoned in the Mexican desert.
In the coming weeks, the Justice Department plans to seek criminal forfeiture of the seized $6.4 million. That means Felhaber and his family will have the opportunity to come to Washington to ask for their money back.
If they do, they'll have to explain where it came from. And they'll have to sort through some of the inconsistent stories for a federal judge. Felhaber bristles at the suggestion there have been inconsistencies.
"The story has never changed," he said. "I don't know how it's changed."
Cowden, the federal prosecutor, said he doesn't know what to expect.
"Some of these cases, nobody ever comes forward," he said.
If so, the buried treasure will become government property.
Or at least some of it. Perhaps there is another $14 million out there, muddy and waiting to be exchanged.
Does Felhaber know if there's any money left? On that, it's hard to get a straight answer.
WASHINGTON - The businessman arrived at the Treasury Department carrying a suitcase stuffed with about $5.2 million. The bills were decomposing, nearly unrecognizable, and he asked to swap them for a cashier's check. He said the money came from Mexico.
Money like this normally arrives in an armored truck or insured shipping container after a bank burns or a vault floods. It doesn't just show up at the visitor's entrance on a Tuesday morning. But the banking habits of Franz Felhaber had stopped making sense to the government long ago.
For the past few years, authorities say, he and his family have popped in and out of U.S. banks, looking to change about $20 million in buried treasure for clean cash.
The money is always the same — decaying $100 bills from the 1970s and 1980s.
It's the story that keeps changing:
_It was an inheritance.
_Somebody dug up a tree and there it was.
_It was found in a suitcase buried in an alfalfa field.
_A relative found a treasure map.
No matter where it came from or who found it, that buried treasure stands to make someone rich.
It could also send someone to jail.
Maybe it was the visit from investigators or maybe someone realized the bank visits weren't working, but Felhaber apparently changed strategies.
In January 2006, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing received a package containing about $136,000 from Jose Carrillo-Valles, Felhaber's uncle. Felhaber's business was listed as the return address. The letter explained the money had been stored in a basement for 22 years.
Though customs officials were suspicious by then, there was no clear evidence of a crime, just a lot of unanswered questions. So, two months later, the Treasury mailed a check, which was deposited into Carrillo-Valles' account.
Following the money, investigators interviewed Carrillo-Valles and his wife. Each denied ever sending or receiving the money, according to a government affidavit.
As for the $120,000 wired to Jose's account from the Federal Reserve a year earlier, they allegedly said it was an inheritance. Esther said Jose's mother had recently died.
Authorities don't believe the inheritance story. For starters, they say Jose's mother was still alive when the $120,000 was exchanged. They also traced a wire transfer from Jose's account to someone named Saenz-Pardo shortly after it was deposited.
Customs investigators now believed Carrillo-Valles was acting as an intermediary, taking a cut of the money and sending the rest to Saenz-Pardo or someone else in Mexico.
Twice, reporters called Carrillo-Valles on his cell phone to ask about the arrangement and confirm his discussions with investigators. First, he said he did not speak English. When a Spanish-speaking reporter called back, he said he could not hear her, and hung up.
In April 2007, the case moved from being suspicious to becoming a criminal investigation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called the Justice Department, saying Felhaber had just arrived in person at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with about $1.2 million.
It's not illegal to find money. Depending on where it's found, there might be a bureaucratic process to follow or taxes to be paid, but the discovery itself is not a crime.
There are strict rules, however, about bringing money into the United States. Import documents identified the $1.2 million as belonging to Jose Carrillo-Valles. Based on their investigation so far, authorities believe that was a lie — a violation that carries up to five years in prison.
But Washington federal prosecutor William Cowden decided to wait. Maybe Felhaber would return with even more.
It paid off. This April, Felhaber was back at the Treasury, this time with a suitcase containing $5.2 million. Investigators say they have found no import documents filed for this deal, a violation of cash smuggling laws that also carries up to five years in prison
Prosecutors moved in. Felhaber's two Treasury visits gave them probable cause to seize the money — both the $1.2 million and the $5.2 million.
They told a federal magistrate in June that they suspected it was all drug money that had been buried or hidden inside a wall for decades.
"Given that the money is coming north from Mexico, that both conflicting and cockamamie stories have been told about its origins, and that all the stories of how it got to be found are fantastical, I strongly suspect that the Felhaber currency is the proceeds of illegal bulk narcotics sales," ICE investigator Stephen A. Schneider told the magistrate
Felhaber says he's still not sure what all the fuss is about. At times he says he has no idea where the money came from, but he is always certain it has nothing to do with drugs.
None of the documents filed in federal court accuses Felhaber or his relatives of being involved in drugs. They leave open the possibility that somebody merely came across a cache of drug money, forgotten or abandoned in the Mexican desert.
In the coming weeks, the Justice Department plans to seek criminal forfeiture of the seized $6.4 million. That means Felhaber and his family will have the opportunity to come to Washington to ask for their money back.
If they do, they'll have to explain where it came from. And they'll have to sort through some of the inconsistent stories for a federal judge. Felhaber bristles at the suggestion there have been inconsistencies.
"The story has never changed," he said. "I don't know how it's changed."
Cowden, the federal prosecutor, said he doesn't know what to expect.
"Some of these cases, nobody ever comes forward," he said.
If so, the buried treasure will become government property.
Or at least some of it. Perhaps there is another $14 million out there, muddy and waiting to be exchanged.
Does Felhaber know if there's any money left? On that, it's hard to get a straight answer.
