Jayant Khare, Conspiring to Structure $10,000,000, Virginia 2013

A Powhatan store owner has pleaded guilty to conspiring to structure over $10,000,000 in cash transactions.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jayant Khare, 50, of Powhatan, Va., pleaded guilty to conspiring to structure more than $10,000,000 in cash transactions for the purpose of preventing banking institutions from reporting those transactions to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The crime occurred from October 2011 to December 2012, during which time Khare and his co-conspirator, Loveleen Khare, owned and operated two cigarette retail stores known as Cigarettes America Plus and Cigarettes America at Westchester. The duo conspired to structure over $10,000,000 in U.S. currency by splitting up cash deposits into accounts maintained at six banks, all in an effort to prevent the banks from filing Currency Transaction Reports with the IRS.

The structured cash was obtained by selling large quantities of cigarettes to out-of-state individuals who were known to be transporting the cigarettes to locations outside of the Commonwealth of Virginia for resale as contraband cigarettes. The sales took place at Khare’s personal residence and from the back door of the retail stores.

Khare faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on July 19, 2013. His co-conspirator, Loveleen Khare, pled guilty to the conspiracy charge on April 17, 2013, and will also be sentenced on July 19, 2013.

This case was investigated by HSI, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and the Tobacco Enforcement Unit of the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia. Assistant United States Attorneys Dominick S. Gerace and Laura Colombell Marshall are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

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