Roosevelt Revisited?

02.04.2014

Government seeks to confiscate more than $60K in coins, cash from Hackensack coin dealer


The government is moving to confiscate more than $60,000 in cash and ancient coins from a former Hackensack coin dealer, arguing the coins were “looted” in Bulgaria and smuggled into the United States.

A civil forfeiture complaint was filed in federal court in Newark on Friday against the money, nearly $36,000 in cash seized from two business bank accounts, as well as 329 ancient coins appraised at $26,795, and another 2,065 coins of undetermined value, that were seized from the Hackensack apartment of Gantcho Zagorski, 60, and his wife, Hanna.

As the alleged proceeds of a crime, the coins and cash, which have been in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security since 2009, are subject to forfeiture, the suit said.

According to the suit, the agency’s Investigations Division received information that Zagorski’s company, Diana Coins LLC, was smuggling looted antique coins into the United States. Between October 2008 and March 2009, five packages were imported from Germany by the Zagorskis and others, the suit said. The merchandise was variously described as collectible items, hobby tokens and tokens, each package having a declared value of $331 or less.

One shipment of 329 “tokens,” some still encrusted with soil and wrapped in a Bulgarian newspaper, was detained by a customs officer at Newark Liberty International Airport in March 2009. Photos of the coins were later shown to an expert in archaeology and antique coins who said that some of the coins had likely been looted from Bulgaria and were worth more than $5,000, the suit said.

Interviewed by investigators at their then-Prospect Avenue apartment, the couple acknowledged the coins were not collectible items or tokens, and that they were in the business of importing antique coins from European wholesalers and selling them on eBay, the online auction site, the suit said.

Agents were later given invoices from a shipper who described four of the packages as containing ancient Roman and Greek coins and said the value of the shipments ranged from $6,000 to $21,000 — significantly higher than the values reported on the actual shipping documents, the suit said.

A review of the Zagorskis’ bank records and financial transactions revealed they made nearly $2 million in wire transfers to bank accounts in Bulgaria between 1999 and 2003, and $730,000 from April 2005 to December 2006, the suit said.

Gantcho Zagorski was indicted last April on tax charges. A federal grand jury returned three counts alleging that he gave a Clifton-based tax preparer documents that understated his earnings from the coin business in 2006, 2007 and 2008. 

The tax preparer then submitted returns on Zagorski’s behalf that stated that his earnings during those years ranged from $232,000 to $314,000.

Zagorski eventually cut a deal with prosecutors. Last week, he pleaded guilty to giving false information to his tax preparer by falsely claiming gross receipts and sales of $310,901 in 2006, when the business had generated more than $600,000 that year.

In return for his plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the other two tax counts at sentencing and not to bring any further charges relating to the alleged smuggling of the coins or making false statements on customs declaration forms, the suit said.

Zagorski faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced May 12.

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