Posted on 04/02/2011 4:05:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A 34-year-old Bowie man acknowledged in federal court Friday that he participated in a ring that distributed more than 17 million black-market cigarettes, a scheme that prosecutors said cost the government more than $2.6 million in taxes.
Chun Chen, who goes by Eddy and owned a carryout restaurant in Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt...
The far-reaching probe became public last fall, when then-Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and his wife, Leslie, now a council member, were arrested.
Jack Johnson was indicted in February on bribery charges. Leslie Johnson (D-Mitchellville) is accused of destroying evidence......
..Nine people, including three Prince George’s police officers, have been charged.....
Prosecutors have said that Melhi paid then-Prince George’s police Sgt. Richard J. Delabrer, 45, of Laurel and others to safeguard the transportation of untaxed cigarettes and alcohol into Maryland and Virginia....
According to Chen’s plea agreement, Delabrer and another defendant began purchasing untaxed cigarettes from the undercover agent and reselling them.
One buyer was Chen, who then sold the cigarettes in New York, where local taxes are more than $8 per pack, court papers say. Prince George’s police Cpl. Chong Chin Kim, 42, also allegedly bought cigarettes, then resold them to New York buyers.
According to court papers, Maryland at the time imposed a sales tax of $2 per pack, and Virginia’s tax was 30 cents per pack. The Department of Treasury imposed a federal excise tax of $1.01 per pack.
Federal officials wiretapped Delabrer’s county-issued cellphone, and later a personal cellphone, intercepting thousands of calls, court papers say. Authorities recorded many calls about the cigarette and alcohol operation, the documents say, including some between Delabrer and Kim about payments for the contraband cigarettes.......
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
GE doesn’t have to pay taxes.
Why should anyone else?
$8.00 per pack? What an extortion racket.
I had no idea.
Only, “the little people pay taxes.”
Notice that the concern of the government is the loss(not really a loss)of tax money. No mention of these cigs "killing" people off with cancer cells. It has always been about the money and never about the health aspect, the health part was so they could fool people into going along with the outrageous taxes they dumped on cigs.
And that is the point. Every working “little person” should go exempt. And “accidentally” not file next year. Or this year.
Eric Holder's people.
Jack wears a hat like the old school gangsters. Here's a link to a WaPo pic, (my title) and a Wapo Article.
I thought Congress was supposed to regulate interstate commerce.
Our “Government” can piss away 2.6 million dollars after their first cup of coffee in the morning.
“a scheme that prosecutors said cost the government more than $2.6 million in taxes. “
*********************
...cost them...?????
This guy committed the worst crime there is, depriving the government of money.
… distributed more than 17 million black-market cigarettes …
How many people buy or sell individual cigarettes? I doubt these black marketers did. But of course, 17,000,000 cigarettes sounds a lot bigger than 85,000 cartons.
Smuggling is a noble profession when it deprives criminal syndicate governments of cash.
Talk about a conflict of interest. The govt. has no motivation to stop people smoking.
Give them a break, they can pay 2.6 million dollars FOR a cup of coffee.
OF course the notion that you can do the calculation of #packs x tax/pack and get a meaningful number is wrong. They would not have seen a fraction of that $2.6M. Moreover, more money for taxes on cigarets would have meant less money for something else. So, for 1 part cigarett you get 8 parts government. At that rate I vote for giving cigaretts away for free.
That’s $8/pack in TAXES. A pack can cost $11-$12 in NYC.
Regards,
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