Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty to Tobacco Trafficking

BOSTON – A Connecticut man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Springfield today in a conspiracy to traffic in contraband tobacco.

Jugjeev Kharbanda, 29, of Seymour, Conn. pleaded guilty to conspiracy and three counts of contraband smokeless tobacco trafficking.  In October 2014, Kharbanda and two others were charged in an Information.  U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for June 25, 2015.

Kharbanda, two co-defendants, and others, worked together to avoid paying large amounts of tobacco excise taxes on smokeless tobacco and cigars sold from warehouses in Springfield, Mass. and Danbury, Conn.  Co-defendant Jaspal Singh pleaded guilty in October 2014 and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21, 2015.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex J. Grant and Veronica M. Lei of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Unit.