Manchester Man Enters Plea in IRS Fraud Case

MANCHESTER, CT — A Manchester man who operated a convenience store in Middletown has agreed to a plea in a federal fraud case, a leading prosecutor said.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced on Thursday that Asafak Bhura, 50, of Manchester, waived his right to be indicted and entered a guilty plea in Hartford federal court to attempting to interfere with the administration of Internal Revenue laws.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Bhura owned and operated Nafisa LLC, and later BAB Enterprise LLC, corporate names for a convenience store located in Middletown.

The store was registered with the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a money service business that sold money wire services and money orders to the public for fees, Daly said.

The store was never licensed by the State of Connecticut to be a check cashier, which would permit the store to cash checks for a fee greater than 50 cents per check, Daly said.

In April 2010, in response to an Internal Revenue Service Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Audit, Bhura adopted an anti-money laundering program and check cashing policies and procedures for his store, Daly said. The procedures listed the acceptable forms of identification of those seeking to cash a check and required the collection and verification of the customer’s information, including addresses, home telephone number and place of employment, along with a copy or scan of the cashed checks, she said.

From March 2012 to June 2012, Bhura accepted and cashed 126 U.S. Treasury tax refund checks totaling $787,187.17 for an individual, Daly said. Bhura did not properly identify the individual and the checks were not made payable to that individual, she said.

In addition, he deposited the checks into his personal bank accounts rather than the store’s business operating accounts, Daly said.

Bhura purposefully did not comply with his store’s AML program and check cashing policies and procedures, Daly said.

Based on prior IRS BSA Compliance examinations of the store, Bhura knew the IRS BSA Compliance auditor reviewing the store’s money service business activities and business bank accounts would detect the cashed U.S. Treasury checks if they were deposited into the store’s business accounts, Daly said.

The federal tax refund checks Bhura cashed were payable to payees residing in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, according to Daly.

The investigation revealed that the checks were federal tax refund checks that others fraudulently obtained through the filing of federal income tax returns containing stolen or fraudulently obtained personal identifying information, she said.

For his services, Bhura received and kept a 5 percent fee for cashing the 126 checks, which amounted to $39,359, Daly said.

Bhura is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on August 23, 2017, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years and a fine of up to $250,000, Daly said.

He also has agreed to pay the IRS $39,359 in restitution, she said.

Bhura was released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing, Daly said.

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