Cigar Store Owner Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud

A business owner pleaded guilty to tax fraud on Monday, admitting to failing to file a sales tax return for cigar store locations in Geneva, Plainfield and Aurora. Jamal Hussein, 46, of the 1200 block of Leonard Drive in Plainfield, was sentenced to two years and six months in the Illinois Department of Corrections and ordered to pay more than $465,000 in restitution. The sentence was also handed down Monday.

In 2015, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Hussein and his wife, Lucinda Hussein, defrauded the state out of more than $465,000 in sales tax after underreporting more than $4.2 million in sales between January 2011 and September 2015.

Originally, Hussein was charged with more than 50 felony counts, including tax evasion and wire fraud, in two separate indictments and faced up to 30 years in prison prior to the plea agreement, according to a release from Madigan's office.

“Business owners who fail to pay their sales taxes are stealing from the state, and we will find those individuals and hold them accountable to taxpayers,” Madigan said at the time of the indictments.

Will County court records indicate that seven felony charges against a Lucinda Sanchez-Hussein, also of the 1200 block of Leonard Drive, were dropped on Monday. The secretary of state's office lists a Lucinda Sanchez as the president of Burning Leaf Cigars.

The Burning Leaf Cigars in Geneva is located at 577 S. 3rd Street #101 in Geneva.

Madigan said the investigation against Hussein was conducted by the Illinois Department of Revenue’s (IDOR) Criminal Investigations Division.

“(Monday)’s plea sends a clear message that attempts to defraud the public by filing falsely prepared tax returns will not be tolerated,” IDOR Director Connie Beard said in a statement.

Written by Shannon Antinori

Jamal Hussein/Will County Sheriff's Office