Press Release  Agawam Man Charged In Tobacco Tax Evasion Scheme

Boston — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced charges against Jaffar Syed, 50 of Agawam, for Tax Evasion and Filing False Tax Returns arising out of a scheme to evade excise taxes associated with the importation and local sale of smokeless tobacco, smoking tobacco, and cigars. Syed will be arraigned on May 3^rd in Hampden Superior Court. 

A joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, Massachusetts State Police, and Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) revealed that Syed purchased tobacco and cigars from a wholesale distributor in Pennsylvania and used a warehouse in Ludlow to import, store, and sell these items to convenience stores, gas stations, and other small retailers primarily in and around Hampden County. 

In addition to Syed failing to pay the applicable excise taxes on the imported tobacco products, his company, Shaws Whole Sale LLC, also filed two returns with DOR that falsely reported $0 tax liability. DOR calculations of the tax loss caused by Syed’s scheme show at least $479,000 in tax harm for that ten-month period in 2018, based on his purchases of smokeless tobacco, smoking tobacco, and cigars from the Pennsylvania distributor. 

The matter was indicted by Assistant Attorney General Joseph Posner, in collaboration with AGO Civilian Investigator Eugene Griffin, the Attorney General’s Digital Evidence Lab, the DOR Criminal Investigations Bureau, and the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Attorney General’s Office.   

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