A Hopkinton man will appear in court on July 9 to answer to charges of allegedly failing to pay more than $467,000 in excise taxes between 2020 and 2022, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Ashraf Youssef, 61, was the owner of AAA Smoke & Vape Shop in Marlborough from 2020-2022, along with similar establishments in Sudbury and Whitinsville. During that time, the defendant allegedly purchased electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), also known as vaping products, from four different out-of-state distributors. He was responsible for paying excise taxes on these products, which the invoices noted, but no excise taxes appear to have been paid over the past three years.
This case was investigated by the DA’s Office in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Criminals Investigations Bureau. Based on information compiled from invoices, bank records and delivery records, Youssef is accused of failing to pay $467,828 in electronic nicotine delivery systems excise taxes.
Youssef was arraigned on June 18 in Middlesex Superior Court on three counts of tax evasion, according to a joint statement from Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Massachusetts Department of Revenue Commissioner Geoffery Snyder. Clerk Magistrate Daniel Flaherty released the defendant on personal recognizance at that time.
The excise tax for electronic nicotine delivery systems is imposed by General Laws Chapter 64C, section 7E.
Assistant District Attorney Whitney Williams will be the prosecutor in the July 9 case.
Not his first rodeo: https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2013/01/09/hopkinton-men-charged-with-selling/41119071007/