Financial Fraud: Kamlesh Patel Plead Guilty to Aiding And Abetting Untaxed Shipments of Tobacco Products

<h2>Pennsylvania Tobacco Distributor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Aiding Tobacco Trafficking in Massachusetts<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>BOSTON – A Pennsylvania wholesale tobacco distributor agreed to plead guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to aiding and abetting untaxed shipments of tobacco products into Massachusetts and evading financial reporting requirements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Kamlesh Patel&comma; 60&comma; was charged and agreed to plead guilty to one count of aiding and abetting a large Norwood-based customer to violate the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act &lpar;PACT Act&rpar; and one count of failing to report large cash transactions to the IRS&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Patel owned and operated RDK Distributors &lpar;RDK&rpar; and MV Distributors &lpar;MV&rpar; in Stroudsburg&comma; Penn&period;&comma; through which he distributed wholesale quantities of cigars&comma; smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco &lpar;such as snuff and chewing tobacco&rpar;&comma; among other products&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Title 15 of the PACT Act requires people who sell&comma; advertise for sale&comma; transfer or ship for profit smokeless tobacco between states to file a statement with the Attorney General and the tobacco tax administrator in the states to which they ship their products&period; The PACT Act also requires them to file with the tax administrator a monthly record of each shipment of smokeless tobacco that they transport into the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Beginning in approximately January 2013&comma; Patel sold large quantities of tobacco products to a Norwood wholesaler&comma; often worth more than &dollar;100&comma;000 at a time&period; The Norwood wholesaler typically paid Patel for tobacco products in cash&period; To evade <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"817">financial<&sol;a> reporting requirements that would have notified the IRS of the size&comma; nature and income of the Norwood wholesaler’s business&comma; Patel falsely divided among multiple invoices the bulk cash payments he received&period; Patel created and instructed his employees to record the large cash payments he received as if there had been numerous sales over numerous days among numerous companies&comma; each less than &dollar;10&comma;000&comma; rather than the single sale for which he had received one or two sizeable cash payments&comma; often amounting to more than &dollar;100&comma;000 at a time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charge of structuring cash transactions to evade financial reporting requirements provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison&comma; three years of supervised release&comma; a fine of up to &dollar;500&comma;000 and forfeiture&period; The charge of aiding and abetting violation of the PACT Act provides for a sentence of no greater than three years in prison&comma; up to one year of supervised release&comma; and a fine of &dollar;250&comma;000&period; Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U&period;S&period; Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Acting United States Attorney William D&period; Weinreb and Joel P&period; Garland&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston&comma; made the announcement today&period; The Massachusetts Department of Revenue also provided valuable assistance&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Stephen Heymann of Weinreb’s Economic Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-ma&sol;pr&sol;pennsylvania-tobacco-distributor-agrees-plead-guilty-aiding-tobacco-trafficking">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Financial Fraud