Would-Be SW Pita Bread Tycoon Enters Plea in $3M Fraud Case

SOUTH WINDSOR/VERNON, CT — A self-proclaimed pita bread tycoon who hailed from Vernon and ran a financing scheme out of a South Windsor business entity has entered a plea in a six-year-old fraud case, a leading prosecutor said.

Deirdre Daly, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced Thursday that Moshen Youssef, 27, formerly of Vernon, had entered a guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to fraud offenses relating to a scheme to secure more than $3 million in funding for his purported pita manufacturing business.

According to court documents and statements made in court, beginning in approximately 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 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.

As part of the scheme, 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, Daly said.

The false information included documentation that inflated the assets and income of Youssef and his companies, Daly said. Fraudulent invoices were created purporting to document equipment purchases that, in fact, never occurred, she added.

Youssef created marketing materials and websites for non-existent vendors to back up the claims, Daly said.

Youssef 's scheme resulted in more than $3 million in losses, Daly said.

He entered a plea of guilty to one count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years, and one count of mail fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, Daly said.

Youssef agreed to pay the lenders restitution in the amount of $3,209,603.17, Daly said.

Judge Arterton scheduled sentencing for Jan. 18, 2018.

Youssef, who has dual U.S and Egyptian citizenship, moved to Canada in 2014, case records show. On Oct 22, 2015, a grand jury returned a 14-count indictment charging him with various fraud offenses. He was arrested in Canada on March 1 of this year and has been detained since his arrest, Daly said.

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.

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