Prosecutors Seek to Seize Assets of Iraqi Currency Dealers

Federal authorities want to seize airplanes, homes, luxury cars and beach properties controlled by some Georgia-based corporations dealing in Iraqi currency
Prosecutors Seek to Seize Assets of Iraqi Currency Dealers
Flags are posted on the home of a woman who is accused of trying to join and martyr herself for the Islamic State group in Syria, Friday, April 3, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Associated Press
6/11/2015
Updated:
6/11/2015

ATLANTA—Federal authorities want to seize airplanes, homes, luxury cars and beach properties controlled by some Georgia-based corporations dealing in Iraqi currency.

In a federal complaint, prosecutors say Atlanta-based Sterling Currency Group LLC is among the largest sellers of the Iraqi dinar.

Prosecutors say the business is built on what they describe as a scam to defraud investigators hoping to cash in on a “revaluation” of the currency.

In the recently unsealed, 48-page complaint, prosecutors say company representatives spread false information in predicting the dinar would rise sharply in value.

No arrests have been made in the case, which seeks the forfeiture of assets controlled by Sterling and associated companies.

Two lawyers who have represented Sterling didn’t immediately return telephone and email messages left by The Associated Press on Thursday morning.