A German pensioner faces a jail sentence for attempting to cash a million-dollar bill at his local bank

AFP REPORT

A German pensioner down on his luck has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for attempting to cash a million-dollar bill at his local bank, a court spokesman said on Thursday

AFP reports Wolfgang U., 65, whose business reportedly ran into difficulties after he became ill, brought the fake note to the bank in Ratingen, western Germany, saying he had received it in return for the sale of a property in Sri Lanka.

"He claimed that he just wanted the bank to check whether the bill was real but bank employees testified that he wanted to have the money credited to his account," Stefan Coners, a spokesman for the court in Duesseldorf, told AFP.

The US Treasury Department does not print a million-dollar bill.

The man was convicted of attempting to bring counterfeit money into circulation and of attempted fraud. He was also told to pay 1,000 euros (1,345 dollars) to a children's charity.