7.1. SR 12-17-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8th guilty plea ties another knot in a complicated web of family and fraud Page 1 of 3 i ~talrTll'ib~r~eacor~~ I~~I~r~1A~~~~-~.~~uL.r.~~lvl~:~o~r~ 8th guilty plea ties another knot in a complicated web of family and fraud Four groups of brothers were accused in a tax-fraud conspiracy involving cigarette sales taxes. A ninth defendant is expected to plead next week. By Dan Browning, Star Tribune Last update: August 29, 2007 - 9:44 PM Taleb Mohamed Wazwaz appeared in federal court Wednesday on his 41st birthday to plead guilty to conspiring with a dozen other men to cheat the state out of more than $2.5 million in sales taxes by concealing revenues from some Twin Cities tobacco stores. He still may face charges in a mortgage fraud investigation that implicated him and at least seven of his co-defendants. Wazwaz was the eighth defendant to plead guilty thus far in the tax-fraud conspiracy, and another is expected to plead guilty next week. Most of the defendants belong to four groups of brothers identified by their names: Othman, Mohamed, Yassin and Mahmoud. They owned tobacco stores in the Twin Cities and concealed the revenue and expenses of those stores or the identities of the people deriving economic benefit from their operation, according to the indictment. Plea agreements made public thus far reveal that federal agents are also investigating the defendants for crimes related to mortgage fraud. In exchange for pleading guilty in the tax-fraud case, the government agreed not to bring mortgage fraud charges against most of the men. ~~ One exception was Sabry Mohammed Wazwaz, 30. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy in the tax-fraud case, and also to a new charge of conspiring to commit mortgage fraud. He admitted to buying two duplexes in St. Paul in 2005, then fraudulently reselling them as condominiums to straw buyers with the use of inflated appraisals and other falsified documents. The plea agreement puts the loss from Sabry Wazwaz's crimes between $1 million and $1.3 million. It calls for a sentence of 37 to 46 months in prison, a fine up to $75,000, restitution and up to three years of supervised release. On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney David MacLaughlin told Taleb Wazwaz that he could settle pending mortgage fraud charges. But he refused the government's offer without comment. He faces from 12 to 21 months in prison, a fine of up to $30,000 and restitution in the tax-fraud conspiracy. http://www.startribune.com/467/v-print/story/1391137.html 9/4/2007