WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court affirmed a guilty verdict in a phony check scheme in which a member of the anti-government group known as “We The People” tried to deposit millions of dollars of fictitious “bills of exchange” in his account at Treasury Department FCU.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed an argument by Edward Brown Jr. that a 100-year-old congressional resolution created legitimate Treasury accounts that citizens could access upon filing documents such as the "bills of exchange" he had tried to deposit at the credit union.
Brown, who was sentenced in 2008 to six months in prison and three years supervised release, is a member of the Libertarian group “We The People,” whose stated purpose is to eliminate the federal income tax system. Hundreds of members of the group have been convicted of or gone to jail for income tax evasion and other tax-related crimes they portray as tax protests.
Brown opened an account with Treasury Department FCU here on July 18, 2005. Two days later, he returned and attempted to deposit a phony check he claimed was a certified draft from the U.S. Treasury for $2.9 million. A teller referred the draft to the chief operations officer of the credit union, who contacted the Department of Treasury and the U.S. Secret Service.
Agents from the two agencies met with Brown, informed him that the draft he presented was worthless, and that by presenting it for negotiation he violated federal law. On Feb. 21, 2006, Brown returned to the same credit union and presented a different phony check for $5.5 million, purporting it to be certified by the United States Treasury. Brown requested that part of the funds be wired to a settlement company in Maryland for the purchase of a $1.8 million property.
The trial court found that Brown’s intent was to defraud the credit union and the appeals court affirmed the ruling.
