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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