Garland indicted by US grand jury
Irish Workers’ Party president Sean Garland has been indicted in the US on charges he conspired with North Korea to circulate millions of dollars in phony US currency, prosecutors said.
The indictment of Garland (aged 71) and six other men by a federal grand jury in Washington marks the first time in a 16-year investigation that the US government has alleged in court documents that North Korea plays a major role in counterfeiting US$100 bills, known as Supernotes.
Garland was arrested on Friday in Belfast, where he was attending a party conference.
The indictment was returned on May 19 and unsealed following Garland’s arrest.
The US is seeking to extradite Garland. He pleaded innocent to the charges at a court appearance in Belfast and has been released on bail.
The high-quality fake US$100 bills were made in North Korea, at the government’s direction and carried around the world by government officials, the indictment said.
Investigators have long believed North Korea was the source of the counterfeit money, which first entered circulation in 1989.
When US authorities broke up an international smuggling ring in August, officials said that the US$4.4m (€3.66m) in counterfeit money seized at the time appeared to have come from North Korea.
Garland, working with the other defendants, purchased, transported and resold up to US$1m (€0.83m) worth of the phony currency between 1997 and 2000 and also worked to conceal North Korea’s role in the enterprise, the indictment said.
The bills were put into circulation in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, it said.
The others charged in the indictment were: Christopher John Corcoran (aged 57), of Dublin; David Levin (aged 39), of Birmingham and London; Hugh Todd (aged 68), of South Africa; Terence “Terry” Silcock (aged 50), Mark Adderley (aged 47), and Alan Jones (aged 48), all of Birmingham.
Prosecutors are seeking their arrest and extradition, said Kenneth Wainstein, the US Attorney in Washington.
All the defendants face maximum prison sentences of five years and fines of US$250,000 (€207,885) if convicted.
