Payments Crime Of The Week: A New Twist On Quarterly Earnings

In a new twist on the concept of quarterly earnings, a Brink’s Company armored transport service money processing manager used his access to the Federal Reserve Coin Inventory to pocket some loose change. Specifically, he grabbed 784,000 quarters, worth $196,000. But how exactly did he take home 9,800 pounds of coinage? That's where this tale took a turn positively borrowed from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

If you recall one of that film's most famous scenes, Indiana Jones opts to try steal the prized statue by fillings enough bags with sand to proximate the statue's weight. In this federal case, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in the Northern District of Alabama, the accused filled bags of quarters with beads. To thwart such a ploy, the bags all had plastic windows. To thwart the attempt at thwarting, the accused, Stephen Lancaster Dennis, removed most of the quarters, but carefully left enough inside each bag to cover the small plastic window.