Is Franklin a True Story? Are Adam Ghofran and Yulia Based on Real People?

Netflix’s ‘Franklin’ is a crime drama series centered on a single father and master money counterfeiter named Adam Ghofran, who has to forge the perfect $100 bill to save his family. After losing a fortune treating his daughter Yara’s illness, Adam finds himself struggling to procure funds to continue her recovery, forcing him into a path of criminality. However, things get complicated when he collaborates with his ex-lover, Yulia, bringing a host of past memories and regrets into the mix. With a tenacious investigator on their trail, the duo has to outwit and outsmart the authorities while also navigating the challenges of their personal relationship and a host of parental issues. With Hussein Al Menibawi in the director’s chair, the show authentically captures the reality of crime, corruption, mortality, and sacrifice through an entertaining premise.

Franklin Delves into the World of Counterfeit Notes and Financial Crimes

While largely fictional, ‘Franklin’ tells the story of an expert counterfeit artist, Adam, whose waning bank balance forces him to craft replica $100 bills that are undetectable by security cash machines. The show mainly hedges around the concept of financial fraud and the process of note replication. Despite being unrelated to any specific incidents, it touches upon cases in the real world where authorities discovered counterfeit money. For instance, in 2024, Customs and Border Protection officers unearthed $304,500 in counterfeit U.S. currency being smuggled into the country by a young male arriving from Ecuador. The bills were described to be extremely similar to genuine currency, showcasing the sophistication of the processes utilized by counterfeit artists.

In the show, we witness the complex details and mechanisms used by Adam when he uses his workshop tools and chemicals. Even details such as the weight of the note and the paper quality matter when constructing a perfect forged note. This proves to be a challenge for the protagonist, requiring him to trial and error the process throughout the film. The economic and financial industries are often highly monitored, requiring a high degree of precision from forgers. Additionally, numerous governing bodies surveil the markets and keep an eye on anyone willing to game the system. Unfortunately, Adam has no choice in the matter because of his daughter’s situation and his desperate bid to save her life before the illness claims her.

Adam Ghofran and Yulia are Fictional Counterfeiters

At the center of ‘Franklin’ lies Adam Ghofran and Yulia, a dynamic duo with a romantic history who are also navigating societal, psychological, and generational issues. They are fictional characters who decide the story’s arc at every critical junction. In Adam’s case, it is evident he is a common everyday man whose life is defined by crime because of his father’s connection to the underworld. While the protagonist tries to steer clear of his father’s path, he finds himself in a difficult spot because of a growing burden on his shoulders to keep his family safe. This serves as a psychological stressor, compelling him to bend the rules to get what he wants. It mirrors the situation of countless individuals worldwide who see crime as a way to provide basic amenities for their loved ones, such as mothers stealing food for their children.

It is undoubtedly that psychology plays a big role in people’s actions. However, both Adam and Yulia are also caught in a cycle of repeated transgressions because they are effectively paying the sins of their fathers. Due to their association, the two characters find it impossible to escape the long shadows cast by their fathers, pulling them closer to the world of crime and danger constantly. Even though they hate themselves for it, they cannot escape the criminal underbelly’s allure. Intriguingly, the show also embodies the well-known adage of how drinking from a “poisoned well” eventually drastically affects a village/town’s population. In the show, Adam sees his counterfeiting operation as a way to save his daughter. However, it soon grows and becomes dangerous, adversely affecting everyone close to him.

One of the salient aspects of the show is how it frames the moral dilemmas presented to each character. Although it is evident that people make bad choices in life and reap the rewards of these poor decisions, it is also the case that individuals sometimes have no choice in the matter and feel as if their hand is forced. This is particularly true for the two central characters, whose lives progressively fall apart as they experience loss, hurt, anger, betrayal, and desperation. As such, when we see their choices near the end, there is a sense of inevitability attached to them. In those final scenes, a key idea is hammered into the audience – no one is to blame for anything. Perhaps this is meant to highlight the tragedy of crime and how it traps both good and bad-intentioned people in the same cycle of violence and mistakes.