Jeffrey Lazare Pleads Guilty to $3.5M Cigarette Smuggling Ring

Jeffrey Lazare, 47, of Hogansburg, New York, stood in federal court today and admitted to running a massive contraband cigarette ring that flooded the North Country with untaxed smokes while raking in over $3.5 million in illicit profits. Lazare pled guilty to failing to maintain required records tied to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes—a deliberate move, prosecutors say, to skirt federal oversight and evade taxes. The plea, entered in Syracuse, marks the end of a years-long investigation by federal alcohol and tobacco agents.

From January 2014 through August 2014, Lazare, operating as the sole owner of Braves Manufacturing and/or Braves Packaging, shipped, sold, or distributed at least 38 separate transactions of 10,000 or more cigarettes—each busting federal reporting thresholds. These bulk sales went to multiple tobacco vendors across the region, all without the legally mandated records detailing purchaser identities or shipping data. Authorities say the pattern wasn’t oversight—it was orchestration.

Lazare admitted the omissions were intentional, designed to avoid paying the Federal Excise Tax (FET) on cigarettes. The unpaid tax bill on those 38 transactions? At least $247,623.60. Federal officials say the scale of the operation—nearly $3.5 million in gross proceeds in just eight months—reveals a calculated scheme to profit from regulatory loopholes and state tax disparities.

As part of his plea agreement, Lazare faces a recommended sentence of one year and a day in federal prison. He’s also on the hook for forfeiture of the full $3.5 million generated by the illegal enterprise. That includes $957,065.00 already seized by federal agents from his bank accounts back in 2013—money investigators flagged early as suspicious and linked directly to unlicensed tobacco manufacturing.

Sentencing is set for June 7, 2018, in Utica, New York, where a federal judge will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the severity of the tax fraud, and Lazare’s cooperation. The court may impose up to one year of supervised release following incarceration. No charges were filed against any associates, leaving Lazare to face the consequences alone.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau (TTB) and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Eurenius. U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith called the operation ‘a brazen attempt to profit from lawbreaking,’ warning others that federal agencies are watching underground tobacco networks with zero tolerance.