A 20-year-old Florida man busted for possession of counterfeit bills wants his case dropped because he never intended to use them.
Alexander Binker was pulled over in Miami for reckless driving and police found suspected crack cocaine and marijuana in the car, according to the Miami Herald. In his wallet, an officer found 32 fake $100 bills and two $50 bills.
Police didn’t press charges for the drugs, but Binker was charged with reckless driving and possession of counterfeit notes, a third-degree felony.
Now, his lawyer wants the charge dropped.
“The only thing counterfeit in this case are the charges,” said his defense lawyer, George Pallas, told the Herald.
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Pallas said that Florida law dictates that bills are only counterfeit if there is an “intent to utter and pass” off them off “to injure or defraud any person.”
Binker’s fake cash, which he said were from a friend’s rap video shoot, was even labeled: “FOR MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY.”
If convicted, Binker faces up to five years in prison.
“It’s the opposite of counterfeit money, designed with safeguards so it can’t be passed off as real,” Pallas told the Herald. “You couldn’t buy a jar of mayonnaise with that ‘money.'”
