PATON: Funny money operation has link to Denver

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Astory involving Russian organized crime, bundles of fake $50 bills, smuggled jewels, a Jewish group in Dushanbe, mysterious Uzbek buyers and the Secret Service has a Colorado connection, according to the U.S. government.

The plot shifts from Israel to New York City's Diamond District to South Xenia Street in Denver.

Rubin Mavashev, Boris Mavashov and Nison Mavashov have been accused of participating in a counterfeit-currency operation. The three men, who have pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, appeared in Denver Tuesday in front of U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock.

Boris Mavashov, 61-year-old father of Nison Mavashov, is part of a tightknit Russian family in Queens, N.Y., that embodies "the American dream," his attorney Barry Zone said by cell phone before a hearing to discuss the status of the case. "We'll do everything we have to do to make sure a fair result is reached."

But federal prosecutors in a case filed in August have portrayed them as members of a shady underworld.

The tale began with an FBI probe into possible organized crime and the activities of Rubin Mavashev, who lives in Denver and is the cousin of Boris Mavashov. Helped by an unnamed government informant, investigators recorded conversations in which Mavashev talked about restarting a counterfeit-dollar operation in Denver, the documents claimed.

Mavashev said a Jewish group in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, supplied the counterfeit dollars and offered to sell the bills to the informant, who in turn could sell them to others, prosecutors said, and then they could split the profits. Mavashev and his partners sought to sell up to $1 million in bogus bills, according to the court file.

Later, the government witness met Mavashov and businessman Alexander Tsarenkov near the corner of 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York to talk about diamond smuggling, authorities said. Mavashov also mentioned he had recently sold $100,000 in fake currency to Uzbek buyers and the notes had been printed in Israel, the court papers stated.

In another rendezvous, the informant gave Mavashev $22,500 in real money to buy $50,000 in counterfeit dollars. Then, at an address on South Xenia Street, Mavashev pulled a plastic bag containing a cardboard box from the back of a Nissan SUV, opening it to reveal 10 piles of fake dollars, the government said.

Prosecutors and the three men may work out a deal before a trial can be scheduled. In the meantime, Edward Sapone, attorney for Nison Mavashov, 35, said, "Every person in this country is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and what I urge the public to do is see these folks as innocent men while we go through the evidence. The truth will come out."

James Paton and David Milstead take turns writing Up and Down 17th Street. Contact Paton at patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544.