Between a Rocky and a hard face: Bulgarian counterfeit gang used awful fake Sylvester Stallone passport to advertise their services

Bulgarian criminal gang used a fake passport in the name of the Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone to advertise its counterfeiting services to potential clients, prosecutors said Friday.

Four gang members were charged for counterfeiting-related crimes with two other men charged on other offences, prosecutors said in a statement.

The passport in Stallone's name - giving the 'Rocky' actor Bulgarian nationality - was found during a search of one of the gang-members' homes in the city of Plovdiv.

Prosecutors believe it 'was shown to customers as an example of the high quality of their workmanship' in faking documents.

Bulgarian gang used a fake passport in the name of the Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone to advertise its counterfeiting services to potential clients, prosecutors said Friday

The search was part of a police operation conducted earlier this week in several Bulgarian regions with the participation of agents of the US Secret Service and assisted by Europol.

Six people were taken into custody after illegal printing presses and equipment for printing money and documents were found, along with large amounts of counterfeit $100 and 50-euro notes. 

Apart from the Stallone passport and other fake Bulgarian identity documents and drivers' licences, thousands of high-quality counterfeit 100-euro and 50-dollar bills were seized. 

'Officers have also seized a Bulgarian passport with the picture of a famous US actor, which was used as a sample to demonstrate to clients the high quality of their counterfeit production,' the prosecutors said in a statement. 

The prosecutor’s office posted a photo of the fake Stallone passport on its website.

Stallone is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter, and is perhaps best known for his leading self-created role as the boxer Rocky Balboa in the 1976 'Rocky' movie, and in subsequent films in the franchise.