The Hunt for the King of Counterfeiting

Dive into the extraordinary life of Frank Bourassa, the audacious counterfeiter who printed $250 million in fake U.S. currency. A thrilling tale of deception, meticulous planning, and international intrigue unfolds!

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[SpaceMarine]

criminals: crime doesn't pay

Frank: skill issue

[Metron]

His amazing ability to counterfeit money is nothing compared to his ability to navigate the legal system.

[CartoonHero]

Fun fact. Because of Frank; The Bank of Canada realised just how easy it was to counterfeit American notes and changed its suggested regulation when accepting American notes as tender for Canadian businesses. We used to just accept American and give an exchange rate (their dollar was usually stronger) pretty much everywhere and without much thought of treating it different from Canadian notes (check anything over a $50 note). After Frank though the Bank of Canada put out warnings to all businesses to check anything larger than an American $5 note or just stop taking American notes all together due to them being so easily counterfeited compared to Canadian notes and other International Currencies.

[dweldredge]

The twist? The farmer knew all along what Frank was doing, printed his own money when Frank wasn't around, and is now living it up on his own private island.

[TommyCrosby]

What a legend! This guy not only made the biggest amounts of counterfeit money ever, but he also made an elaborate system of protected steps and an amazingly clever defense argument to protect himself.

[orangepaper]

It is just a very rare moment in history that such a finely written script, and even finer narration of it comes to pass, this episode should make Simon proud, and make him and his team feel that all their hard work and efforts, were truly worth it!!!

Now, coming to the protagonist, Frank. I will put my appreciation of this point - wise, so that I can do justice to him.

Point A - The method - here in lies a tale of methodical planning, suffering from failure and getting bogged down by refusals, but still getting up again, brushing aside frustrations and the overbearing fear of getting caught by the law, but still persevering for the cause. Mind you, he tried being clean inspite of having a crooked mind, but mind you again, in his school days he just wanted to make money and be independent.

Point B - The effort - Frank proved what others wish to have, but fail on hitting the first roadblock, tenacity!!! As mentioned earlier, his attention to details should be taught in modern day legal business schools, and should be a Class 1 must read and must pass course subject for wannabe criminals, who just know how to flex muscles and flash a gun, to terrorize people!!! His methods all through his flabbergastingly interesting life story, is really heard to be believed!!!

Point C - Damage control cum trouble shoot and humanity - Which person amongst us listeners can honestly say that we would not give up hope, when we are caught in the act, and are facing die - hard secret service agents and local police, with an international twist to it?? Breakdown is a must - do, is it not?? Herein Frank shows his character's other side, when the chips are totally down, think!! It is also proven that he was not all - knowing, he should have known that a crime in Canada involving US of A would give Uncle Sam a resounding whack in his backside, when he is just relaxing with a midsummer nap in his family courtyard of Canada. USA will no doubt, leave no stone unturned to get the person who is actually swindling it off it's own money, he will get extradited. But even in such a calamitous situation, he held his nerve, thought hard, and finally got away with it!!! Humanity, well, he never tried to put his girlfriend or the farmer in trouble, he managed to keep them out of his own travails, they should be, as I am!!!

His life, and this incident, really deserves to be made into a movie!!! All in all, a not so evil person, but truely, a genius!!!

[audreymuzingo]

I can't like this guy enough. Crafty AF, willing to put in the research, work, caution and patience, fully aware of the risk, but unwilling to let anyone else be harmed for his choices. More legit than governments who print real money.
EDIT, or rather an asterisk* -His girlfriend was harmed. She had to go through the shock and grief of finding out her beloved was living a double life and lying the whole time, and losing the life she thought she had with him. Now I'm embarrassed it took me 2 days to realize that, because the same thing happened to me.

[Nefville]

Amazing how Frank had all these plans to get the paper, the printing press and even how to get out of trouble if he was caught BUT... never had a real plan to sell the fake money. Reminds me of these elaborate prison escapes where the inmate just goes back home and is caught later that afternoon.

[Ittiz]

"Catch Me If You Can 2" it needs to be made, and this story is it!

[mr.deadbutdreaming]

The fact they wanted 60 years is exactly why I am so happy he got 6 weeks with his smart thinking and lawyer's help.

[Jokers-Asylum]

I’m amazed Simon was able to tell this story without cracking up. We need to blooper reel

[pianowhizz]

I can’t believe that Swiss company counterfeited the three hardest parts for him - the paper, the watermark, and the security strip!
I’m guessing they no longer offer that service!

[TaiJendamNation]

I'm a middle-age woman who has never been in any trouble or caused any trouble. What do you suppose it says about the Powers That Be and how they interact with us "common-folk", that I spent the entire video rooting for Frank and hoping super hard that he didn't end up in trouble? Yay Frank! lol

[siggy]

I feel like this would have been way better as a Casual Criminalist episode. A more biographical dive into the story accompanied by Simon's various reactions and tangents sounds awesome

[doesntmatter]

What an interesting story!
Bit of luck to catch him in the end too.

Small correction, Trois-Rivières is not a suburb of Montreal. It's almost 150 km away from Montreal.

[steveb]

In a previous life I was a printer. I was asked numerous times by people visiting the firms if I would ever be tempted to print counterfeit money (Pound notes), naturally I always said no. Technically of course it wasn't impossible (The paper being a huge hurdle-they now use polymer) but was very very difficult to do it to any degree of accuracy. What isn't widely known is the ink used is different to conventional oil based printing ink and has a particular property unique to itself. About thirty or so years ago a man in the UK had a press (I think that was a multi unit Heidelberg Speedmaster-NOT CHEAP!) in his large shed (I think he lived on a farm) and printed some money. But he came unstuck when he thought he was being tailed (He was correct) and buried the printed money on his land as well as the blankets (A thin rubber sheet that wraps around a cylinder to transfer the image from the plates to the paper). The problem was the image had imprinted into the semi porous surface of the blankets, so the evidence was there.

[SellswordArts]

Okay... I know I shouldn't be rooting for this guy, but how can you not?

[ronque]

Simon’s storytelling is amazing. Never hearing of this guy, I never got the sense that Frank was gonna beat the charges—all up until the very end. I just knew the govt was gonna find one last ace up its sleeve—right up until they didn’t.

[AnimeShinigami]

I can imagine Simon getting this script as a casual criminalist and going "hmmm, this guy's actually pretty smart about his crimes. he should go somewhere else. we only want dumb criminals on cas crim."