It's Saturday morning cartoon time. Angel Cruz, a Kissimmee man---Kissimmee is just south of Orlando---is launching 'The United States Private Dollar,' which he claims will rival the U.S. dollar. Now two Kissimmee organizations are under investigation for issuing "worthless checks" to employees who believed in their scheme.
Victor Manuel Ramos of the Orlando Sentinel has the story in today's edition:
Thursday evening, the nonprofit JC Consultores Laborales released a statement distancing itself from financial partner The United Cities Corp., which printed checks deemed fraudulent by a federal agency. The nonprofit used those checks to pay its workers.
In the statement, the nonprofit's president, Josefina Calderon, said she was "very concerned" about the lack of payment to several dozen employees for "not only the hours worked but the monthly expenses too."
This is a real story, in a real newspaper. These guys claim they have $300 million in paper on the streets now...
Cruz denied his project is having any problems. It's all a misunderstanding. Everyone will get what's coming to them---his "private dollars"---
and the U.S. banking system and government will have to accept them "because what [federal officials] have done is illegal."
Here's what Cruz promised 60 employees at JC Consultores Laborales and an unknown number of workers at 32 other companies:
- jobs, ranging from maintenance worker to human-resources director
- all their debts paid off
- 30-year job contracts
- a new car
- free health insurance
- a house
- all paid in "United States Private Dollars"
Last week, the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an alert warning banks that United Cities' checks were "valueless instruments" and should not be cashed.
Cruz estimates there are about $300 million worth of "United States Private Dollars" in circulation with affiliated members in Orlando, Miami and other parts of the U.S.