Five USVI men charged in $60 million tax fraud

Tuesday, October 7, 2003

ST. CROIX, USVI: According to WorldNet Daily, federal authorities charged five men last week for hiding more than $60 million from tax officials and smuggling it out of the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Fathi Yusuf, 62, his son Maher Yusuf, 36, and Waleed Hamed, 38, and Waheed Hamed, 41, all appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Geoffrey Barnard. 

A federal grand jury charged them with wire fraud and money laundering, among other crimes. The men live in St. Thomas and St. Croix. 

An arrest warrant was also issued for Isam Yousuf, of St. Martin, a relative of the other defendants. He also faces money-laundering charges. 

Maher Yusuf was born in St. Croix. Fathi Yusuf and both Hameds, who are distant relatives, were born in Jordan, but are naturalized U.S. citizens. 

The three also face tax evasion charges for submitting inaccurate tax returns to the Virgin Islands Internal Revenue Bureau, said U.S. Attorney David Nissman, who announced the indictments. 

The five men manage a three-store supermarket chain and hid millions of dollars in cash at the stores, Nissman said. The stores generated $300 million in sales, $60 million of which the men did not report, he said. 

The men would wrap the cash in aluminum foil so it could pass through airport X-ray machines undetected, and then mailed and wired the money in small denominations to bank accounts in Amman, Jordan, and French St. Martin, FBI special agent Ted Sulzbach said. 

Sulzbach testified that Fathi Yusuf and Waleed Hamed used the money to fund a tile factory in Jordan and to purchase property there and in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Officials have frozen the defendants' U.S. bank accounts and were seeking forfeitures exceeding $60 million. Authorities said they were trying to freeze their accounts in Jordan and St. Martin. 

The men face between 20 and 93 years in prison if convicted. 

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