International Counterfeit Checks-Connecticut

Hakan Yalinak, 22, admitted to using his New York University student ID and other expertly forged documents to pose as an heir to a billionaire Turkish family in order to lure investors into a phony hedge fund, the Deadalus Relative Value Fund.^[1] Prosecutors say he was caught when he tried to shuttle a series of counterfeit checks totaling $43 million dollars between New York and Swiss banks. ^[2] He was hoping to use the money to pay off suspicious people who had invested millions of dollars into the fund.^[3] Postal inspectors and the FBI began looking into the Greenwich-based Daedalus fund in 2004 and charged Yalinak with wire fraud in 2005.^[4] Yalinka was already in jail at the time because of the international check scheme.^[5]

Counterfeiting of state securities is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 513, which makes it a crime for a person to make, utter or possess a counterfeited or forged security of a state. A security as used in this section can mean a check or a warrant. The distinction between counterfeit and forged is that counterfeit means that it is purported to be real but is not because it has been falsely made or manufactured in its entirety. A forged document purports to be real but is not because it has been falsely altered, completed, signed or endorsed or it contains false additions or insertions or it is a combination of parts of two or more genuine documents. The punishment for a violation of section 513 is a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years or both.

Yalinak has been cooperating with the authorities and more indictments are expected in this transnational crime.^[6] Yalinak’s defense attorney said the investigation will reveal that although Yalinak was able to entice investors, “the mechanics of setting up a fake hedge fund required sophisticated expertise.” ^[7] Yalinak’s mother, Ayerafet Yalinak, admitted to helping him recruit investors and may receive a sentence of up to five years for conspiracy.^[8]

Yalinak, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud and wire fraud in June, was released on $1.1 million dollar bond on January 5th.^[9 The 21 months Yalinak has been in prison may be close to the sentence he receives if he is given credit for cooperating with the authorities. ^[10]



[1] John Christoffersen, NYU Whiz Kid Released on Bail, Associated Press (via Yahoo!), January 5, 2007, available here.
[2] Don Stacom, Partial Freedom for Suspect in Swindle, The Hartford Courant, January 6, 2007.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Christoffersen, supra, note 1.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.