Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Gang Leader Sentenced for Firearms and Counterfeit Currency Scheme
NORFOLK, Va. – A Portsmouth man was sentenced today to 40 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and uttering counterfeit obligations.
According to court documents, Amaud Brown, aka “Moe Gunz,” 24, is a convicted felon and self-admitted leader of the Gangster Disciples who used four co-conspirators, including the mother of his child, to straw-purchase at least seven firearms for him. Two days after directing an associate to straw-purchase one of those guns, Brown called that gun store to inquire about purchasing more guns while police officers were at the store investigating the conspiracy.
Police officers executed a search warrant of Brown’s home and recovered two guns, dozens of rounds of ammunition, marijuana, and materials used to manufacture counterfeit money. Police later discovered that Brown had been using counterfeit “motion picture notes” to rip off at least five victims, including a Navy serviceman and a student at Christopher Newport University, defrauding them out of their electronic devices after meeting them through the “Letgo” electronic marketplace app.
Fraudsters have found so much success with motion picture notes that the total volume passed in the United States rose from $3.2 million in 2018 to $4.9 million this year, surpassing the Peruvian Note as the most passed counterfeit obligation in the country. U.S. Secret Service Agents in Los Angeles recently seized nine pallets of motion picture notes that had been shipped from Turkey—a total of roughly $286 million in counterfeit money. And pallets of motion picture notes shipped from Russia have been seized in New York ports.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; George D. Purefoy, Resident Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Norfolk Resident Office; and Angela Greene, Chief of Portsmouth Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-85.