Jeffrey Doctor, Smuggling Cut Rag Tobacco, New York 2023

In a shocking case of international money laundering, Jeffrey Doctor, a 52-year-old man from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in smuggling cut rag tobacco into Canada.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, Doctor was part of a conspiracy that smuggled cut rag tobacco into Canada from the United States between 2013 and 2016. The tobacco was used to make contraband cigarettes, which were then sold on the black market.

Cut rag tobacco is tobacco cut into fine strips and used to make smoking tobacco. The profits from the sale of the contraband cigarettes were used to buy more cut rag tobacco, which was then smuggled into Canada.

Doctor was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. on [no date] in Albany, New York. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $503,850.66 in unrecovered proceeds.

Doctor's co-conspirator, Samuel Baker, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in the scheme. Baker laundered more than $19 million as part of the conspiracy and was fined $100,000.

Edgar M. Baker, a 51-year-old man from Southern Pines, North Carolina, was sentenced to three years of probation and a $75,000 fine for failing to report the conspiracy to authorities.

The investigation into the case was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, in collaboration with the Canadian Border Services Agency and the Sûreté du Québec. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allen J. Vickey and Alexander P. Wentworth-Ping prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/north-carolina-men-sentenced-international-money-laundering-conspiracy