Worcester businessman Mohamed Afeez, 32, was sentenced today to one year and one day in federal prison for orchestrating a brazen tobacco tax fraud scheme that ripped off the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for nearly $1 million. The feds aren’t playing games when it comes to tax cheats, and Afeez just learned that the hard way.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman slapped Afeez with the prison term, three years of supervised release, and a crushing $973,218 restitution and forfeiture order. The sentence follows Afeez’s April 2017 guilty plea to subscribing a false tax return and conspiracy—charges that cut to the heart of his underground operation.
From late 2014 to July 2016, Afeez ran a wholesale tobacco business out of Worcester, peddling cigars, loose smoking tobacco, and smokeless products like snuff and chewing tobacco to convenience stores and gas stations. Under state law, he was required to pay a 210% excise tax on smokeless tobacco and a 40% tax on cigars brought into Massachusetts. He paid neither—choosing fraud over compliance.
Instead, Afeez and a co-conspirator made repeated cash runs—bundles exceeding $10,000 at a time—to a Pennsylvania distributor where tobacco isn’t taxed. They hauled the goods back to Massachusetts and dumped them on retailers without paying a dime in state excise taxes. The entire scheme was built on smuggling, deception, and stacks of untraceable cash.
The IRS estimates Afeez’s illegal operation generated over $448,000 in unreported income during 2015 alone—money that never saw the inside of a tax form. That number is just part of the $973,218 total loss tied to the fraud, a figure that includes unpaid taxes, penalties, and the full weight of federal accountability.
The takedown was led by United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation in Boston. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, a veteran of the Economic Crimes Unit, prosecuted the case. The message is clear: cheat the tax system, and the feds will hunt you down—even for cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
Related Federal Cases
- Men Indicted for Tobacco Tax Fraud and Money Laundering · Massachusetts
- Muhammad Saleem Iqbal Sentenced in $28M Tobacco Tax Scam · Massachusetts
- Lancaster Man Guilty of Lying to Court in $102K Fraud Case · Massachusetts
- Predator Caracciolo Gets 25 Years for Exploitation, Fraud · Massachusetts
- Afeez Guilty · Massachusetts
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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