Washington, January 15: A man was arrested in Malaysia with $66 million ($71.56 million) in fake US banknotes after trying to tip a hotel maid with an obsolete $500 bill ($542), officials revealed today.
A raid of the Lebanese man’s hotel room in Kuala Lumpur turned up counterfeit notes in bundles of $1 million ($1.08 million), $100,000 ($108,000) and $500 ($542) notes last Sunday.
Hotel staff were alerted after the housekeeper discovered her generous tip was fake when a nearby bank refused to change it.
The man now faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of possessing counterfeit currency.
Bills of $500 were last printed in 1945 and are now no longer in wide circulation, according to the US Treasury Department.
The largest US note ever printed was a special edition $100,000 bill, in 1934.
This is not the first time the accused man has been in trouble with the law in Malaysia.
In a separate case, a Malaysian court charged him last week with fraud over the sale of office supplies in 2005.
—Agencies