Not $1M: Movie prop money stolen from car, police in Oregon say

NEWPORT, Ore. – More than $1 million in prop money used in films was stolen from a car in Newport, Oregon, authorities there said.

Since the car break-in last Thursday, authorities are warning businesses and the public about the fake money that, if attempted to be used, will come in $10, $20 and $100 bills.

The Newport Police Department advised people to check money thoroughly when you accept any amount of cash from anyone. Police said prop money has many obvious signs — including a print warning that the currency is for “Motion Picture Use” only. The fake cash will also feel different from authentic U.S. currency.

Here are a few photos of the actual prop money that was stolen from the vehicle.

Source: CLICK2HOUSTON

Read More

Movie prop Money fools a Lethbridge business

Lethbridge police service say the print quality used at an establishment is similar enough to legitimate currency that a staff member didn’t spot the differences until after the male customer who handed it to them was long gone.

Police say while convincing, the bills had several notable flaws. Police say each bill shared the same serial number, lacked polymer material and holograms and had “Canada” misspelled as “Canad.” They were also marked “Not legal tender” and “Film production only.”

Now police in the southern Alberta city are trying to track that person down.

Source: CFWERADIO

Read More

Cincinnati-area man arrested in counterfeiting case involving movie prop money

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – A Cincinnati-area man is under arrest in a counterfeiting and forgery case involving movie prop money, court records show.

Harrison police arrested 33-year-old Timothy Noble late Tuesday.

He’s accused of altering movie prop money to make it appear genuine and then giving out the counterfeit cash to a man in exchange for an iPad, police wrote in an affidavit.

After Noble was arrested, police discovered he was in possession of $26,070 in movie prop money with $960 already altered, according to the sworn statement.

The location of the offense is listed in court records as 10515 New Haven Road in Harrison, which is a BP gas station near Interstate 74.

Noble, who lives in West Chester, was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, jail records show.

He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Source: FOX19

Read More

How Did So Much ‘Smart Money’ Get Tangled Up in FTX?

For much of this year’s rolling crypto crash, Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX Exchange — until last week the second largest in the world — looked like the white knight charging in to save the day. 

The 30-year-old crypto kingpin offered to prop up peers reeling from the collapse, including bankrupt crypto banks Voyager and Celsius as well as BlockFi, another exchange. But last week, when Bankman-Fried could not raise $8 billion to fill a massive hole in his own balance sheet, critics could be forgiven for wondering whether he was trying to save himself all along — and why investors didn’t notice. 

There was certainly plenty of smart money along for FTX’s wild ride — notably Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, and Tiger Global, among the most sophisticated investors in the world. Sequoia said it has written down its entire $210 million investment, and SoftBank is reported to have lost $100 million. Tiger Global lost about $38 million, according to an individual familiar with the situation.

Millennium Management’s Izzy Englander and Brevan Howard’s Alan Howard were also counted among FTX’s gold-plated investors. Even the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said it ponied up $95 million, though a statement on its web site did not say whether it was writing the investment off. 

All told, investors plowed $1.9 billion into FTX since 2019, according to PitchBook.

“We are in the business of taking risk,” Sequoia wrote in a letter to its limited partners, saying it had written down its FTX investments to zero. Sequoia also said it does “extensive research and thorough diligence on every investment we make.”

Read More: Institutional Investor

Read More

Be on the lookout for movie prop cash, police say

The Riley County Police Department says that movie prop money was recently used in an attempted purchase at a Manhattan business on Oct. 31. David Voter, 52, of Manhattan, was identified by police as the one who used the bill recovered by police and was issued a notice to appear for attempted theft.

Even though the individual suspected of using the bill has been apprehended, the RCPD says that locals should still be on the lookout for more fake cash. If you need to get in touch with the RCPD about finding more movie prop money, you can call them at 785-537-2112 or send them an email at contact_rcpd@rileycountypolice.org.

Source: KSNT

Read More

Octavia Spencer almost used prop money with Ryan Reynolds’ face on it to pay for Halloween candy

During an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” the actress opened up about the time she nearly used the prop item from her upcoming Christmas musical “Spirited” when buying Halloween candy. Spencer joked with Fallon that she’s happy she realized the money was fake before attempting to use it, admitting she “could have gone to jail” for using counterfeit bills.

“I’m glad I’m one of those people who likes to be prepared, because I’m looking at the $100 bill, and I’m like, ‘Ben Franklin looks really, really weird.’ I realized it was a prop from ‘Spirited.’ And I almost paid with it,” she explained. “It’s a prop from the set, and I saw it on the floor and thought, ‘Wow, that’s great, it looks real.’ And I thought, because I never have money in my wallet, that I would remember.”

In her defense, Spencer argued that it had been over a year since she filmed the movie and swiped the fake bill from set, saying it was natural for her to have forgotten.

Source: Yahoo News

Read More