Cigar Distributor Indicted for Failing to Pay Over $6.1 Million in Taxes

An indictment of a large-scale cigar distributor was unsealed on Aug. 19, the Attorney General announced.

Aamir Sulaiman, who owns and operates Delta Distribution Services Corp., allegedly owes over $6 million in tobacco taxes to New York State and remitted only $100,000.

Sulaiman, 45, a licensed tobacco distributor, and his Brooklyn-based corporation were charged with felony Criminal Tax Fraud, Offering a False Instrument for Filing, and Falsifying Business Records after an investigation showed that he imported millions of cigars from Pennsylvania-based wholesalers and resold them in New York without paying New York taxes. Sulaiman was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court in front of Judge Chun and, if convicted, faces up to 25 years in prison.

An investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force and the Department of Taxation and Finance revealed that between March and November 2013, Sulaiman allegedly failed to pay at least $6.1 million in state tobacco taxes.

“On behalf of responsible businesses, taxpayers and local governments, we must take aggressive action against tax cheats – especially those who have stolen millions of dollars from the people of New York State,” said Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. “Operations like these undermine law-abiding mom-and-pop shops and other businesses in New York by putting them at a competitive disadvantage, not to mention damaging our public health efforts to discourage smoking. I thank the Department of Taxation and Finance for partnering with us on this important case.”

Between March and November 2013, licensed tobacco distributors were required by law to remit a 75% tax on the wholesale price of all cigars sold, shipped, imported, manufactured, or delivered in New York. That payment must be made to the state Tax Department by the 20th of every month, along with a completed NYS tax form called the MT-203. Sulaiman’s MT-203’s for the nine-month span falsely reported and remitted $100,188 in tobacco taxes, as opposed to the $6.9 million that he owed.

On March 12, 2014, Sulaiman, of Staten Island, and his corporation were arraigned on a felony complaint in Brooklyn Criminal Court, and he was held on $100,000 bail. Today, he and his corporation were arraigned on the 28-count indictment, and his bail was continued.

“In his effort to steal from the State, it appears the defendant filed multiple false tobacco tax returns and also falsified his business documents,” said New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Thomas H. Mattox. “This is a serious crime, and I thank Attorney General Schneiderman for moving ahead with prosecution.”