Henrietta Couple Indicted on Turbotax Scheme

ROCHESTER , N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury in  has returned an indictment charging Humayun Farid, (a/k/a Jimmy Farid), 35, and Aysha Humayun, (a/k/a Aysha Hussain), 33, of Henrietta, N.Y., with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and filing a false tax return. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, the defendants conspired to defraud Intuit, Inc., the manufacturer of TurboTax and Quicken software products. As part of the scheme, the defendants contacted Intuit, claimed that software discs they purchased were lost, stolen or damaged, and requested free replacement discs. Intuit then mailed the free replacement discs to the defendants at addresses in Henrietta and Maryland. Farid and Humayun then advertised and sold the discs on eBay.com to buyers around the country, and kept the proceeds for their own profit. Between November 2009 and June 2011, the defendants are alleged to have falsely and fraudulently obtained thousands of copies of software to which they were not entitled and were not authorized to sell.

The Indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Inspectors of the United States Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector Shelly Binkowski, and Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Shantelle Kitchen.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.