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.

[–] GrouchyGrouse@hexbear.net 43 points 6 months ago

Selling all my holdings in Iraqi dinars to reinvest in gay sex bux

[–] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 35 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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@hexbear.net 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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@hexbear.net 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Diuretic_Materialism@hexbear.net 7 points 6 months ago

Yes he likely will but I think the Dept of the Treasury won't be swayed by that argument

[–] FourteenEyes@hexbear.net 26 points 6 months ago

It's a giant novelty check actually

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 31 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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@hexbear.net 24 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

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@hexbear.net 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] D61@hexbear.net 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah. deeper-sadness

[–] SoyViking@hexbear.net 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 1 points 6 months ago

We all know its wrong yeah