Would-Be Pita Bread Tycoon Gets 5 Years in Fraud Case

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — A self-proclaimed pita bread tycoon who hailed from Vernon and ran a financing scheme out of a South Windsor business entity has been given a prison sentence or five-plus years, a leading prosecutor said on Tuesday.

John H. Durham, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that Mohsen Youssef, 27, formerly of Vernon, was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 63 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for "fraud offenses" relating to a scheme to secure more than $3 million in funding for his purported pita manufacturing business in South Windsor.

According to court documents and statements made in court, beginning in October 2011, Youssef defrauded various banks, a corporate leasing and vendor finance company, and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, in a scheme to secure funding for equipment purchases for his company, Amoun Pita and Distribution LLC, along with and other companies he controlled.

According to its business plan, Amoun Pita was a bakery that manufactured pocket pita bread from a production facility in South Windsor. South Windsor police said the facility was on the 300 Block of Pleasant Valley Road.

Youssef provided false information when applying for loans, lines of credit, lease financing and state grants, purportedly to finance the acquisition of new pita manufacturing equipment, other machinery and inventory related to his businesses, Durham said.

The false information included documentation that inflated the assets and income of Youssef and his companies, Durham said. It also fraudulently created invoices purporting to document equipment purchases that, in fact, never occurred, he added.

In order to "induce victims to rely on the invoices he provided," Youssef created marketing materials and websites for non-existent vendors, Durham said.

Net "losses" related to the scheme added up to more than $3 million, Durham said.

Youssef also defrauded a property owner who entered into an agreement to sell the land on which Amoun Pita was located, Durham said.

Judge Arterton ordered Youssef to pay restitution to the "victim lenders" and the "defrauded property owner" totaling $3,746,603.

Youssef has dual U.S and Egyptian citizenship, but moved to Canada in 2014, according to case records.

On Oct. 22, 2015, a grand jury returned a 14-count indictment charging Youssef with various fraud offenses, case records indicate. He was arrested in Canada on March 1, 2017, Durham said.

On Oct. 26, 2017, he entered a guilty plea to one count of bank fraud and one count of mail fraud.

Youssef has been in custody since his arrest.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Quebec Provincial Police RELEX Unit, Montreal Police Service and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel