District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – A Quincy man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for counterfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. currency.

Victor Cardona, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 41 months in prison, two years of supervised release and a fine of $5,000. In October 2022, Cardona pleaded guilty to one count of counterfeiting U.S. currency, specifically, forged older-style $100 bills.

During a search of Cardona’s residence in October 2019, a counterfeit currency manufacturing facility was discovered, including equipment and materials used to create counterfeit bills, specifically, inkjet printers, a paper shredder containing counterfeit bills that had been discarded, a “counterfeit buster” detection pen and counterfeit bills, including one fake $100 bill in Cardona’s wallet. Several authentic $100 bills with serial numbers which were tied to counterfeit currency recovered from across the country were also found. Burned remains of counterfeit currency were also located in Cardona’s backyard.

According to court documents, Cardona admitted that he procured the materials to create the counterfeit currency and hosted one or more other individuals at his home on a weekly basis for the purpose of creating the fake bills. In total, Cardona produced, or participated in the production of, over 4,000 fake $100 bills that were identified as counterfeit and traced by serial number to the authentic bills found at Cardona’s residence. To date, the government has recovered over $467,000 in counterfeit $100 bills traced back to the authentic bills found at Cardona’s residence.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Andrew Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Many local police departments, including the Quincy Police Department and Salem Police Department, provided valuable assistance with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam W. Deitch of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case.