United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

FIVE NEW JERSEY BUSINESS PARTNERS SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR PARTICIPATING IN TAX EVASION SCHEME

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that five New Jersey men were sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven for their participation in a large tax evasion scheme involving a chain of discount stores they owned and operated in Connecticut and elsewhere.

MOHAMMED ARIF, 51, of Piscataway, N.J.; MOHAMMED MEMON, 56, of Somerset, N.J.; HAJI MEMON, 49, of Piscataway; MOHAMMED NAEEM, 45, of Somerset, and MOHAMMED JAWEED, 42, of Somerset, each was sentenced to two months of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, the first three months of which each must serve in community confinement (“halfway house”).  Each defendant almost must pay a fine in the amount of $10,000 and perform 100 hours of community service.  In April, each defendant pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false federal tax return.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, the five defendants are brothers who were partners in Dollar Dreams, a chain of discount retail stores that operated in several states and had 10 locations in Connecticut.  From 2001 to 2003, the defendants systematically “skimmed” significant amounts of cash from the businesses and failed to report this income to the Internal Revenue Service.  As part of the scheme, some of the defendants directed their store managers to keep records of the skimmed cash, and they regularly traveled to Connecticut to pick up bags of skimmed cash.  Once the cash was delivered to New Jersey where the defendants resided and managed their businesses, certain defendants arranged for the cash to be stored, kept a detailed log of when each defendant took some of the cash, and managed a second set of books.

As part of the sentence, the defendants are required to pay to the IRS restitution totaling more than $1.2 million.

The stores – which operated in Bloomfield, Bridgeport, Manchester, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, Waterford, Waterbury and West Hartford – are no longer in business.

This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Raymond F. Miller.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov