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For Immediate Release:  
For Further Information:
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March 2, 2007   

Division of Criminal Justice
609-292-4791

Office of The Attorney General
- Stuart Rabner, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Gregory A. Paw, Director

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Six North Jersey Men & One Pennsylvania Man Plead Guilty to $500,000 Coupon Fraud

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TRENTON - Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw, announced that six North Bergen men and a Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today for their roles in a New Jersey-based, multi-state coupon redemption fraud scheme that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal profits.

According to Director Paw, the following men all pleaded guilty today to third-degree theft by deception before Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan in Hudson County: Shahin Kayed, a.k.a. Mustafa, 63; Rizek Kayed, a.k.a. Ricky, 47; Mohammad Awadalla, a.k.a. Mike, 48; Gazi Nassralla, a.k.a. Jino, 44; Siyam Kayed, a.k.a. Sammy, 29; and Belal Dalia, 24; all of North Bergen; and Ribhi Mustapha, a.k.a. Ray, 30, of Philadelphia. The charges stemmed from a Jan. 11, 2006 state grand jury indictment. Sentencing is scheduled for June 29.

At the guilty plea hearing, the defendants admitted that between October 1999 and July 2004, they contacted at least 54 stores and/or retail outlets in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland soliciting participation in a coupon redemption promotion which would purportedly qualify the store owners to receive cash payments by redeeming manufacturer coupons. The defendants admitted that they did not work for a coupon company and that the stores solicited to participate in the promotion were not entitled to coupon redemption funds.

The defendants admitted that after unwitting store owners agreed to participate in the purported promotion, the defendants prepared store participation applications and sent the forms to various coupon clearing houses which sort coupons for reimbursement by manufacturers. It was determined that the applications grossly inflated the size of the store and the amount of coupon-related sales. In many instances, the stores did not accept manufacturers’ coupons. The defendants submitted tens of thousands of coupons to clearing houses which issued checks totaling more than $580,000 to the store owners. The defendants demanded fifty percent or more of the monies received by store owners.

The investigation was coordinated by Deputy Attorney General William T. McGovern and State Investigator Rick Watson of the Division of Criminal Justice in conjunction with the Coupon Information Corporation (CIC), a not-for-profit corporation formed by manufacturers that issue cents-off coupons in the U.S. Additional investigative assistance was provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

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