A Hopkinton man is charged in connection with failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in excise tax in a three year span, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
Ashraf Youssef, 61, was arraigned on June 18, on three accounts of tax evasion.
Youssef was the owner of AAA Smoke & Vape Shop in Marlborough and owned other similar operations, according to the district attorney’s office.
In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Youssef “purchased Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (vape) products from four different out-of-state distributors,” the district attorney’s office said.
Youssef was responsible for paying excise taxes on those purchases over that three year span but he did not, officials claim.
Based on invoices for those purchases, bank records and delivery records, he failed to pay $467,828 in electronic nicotine delivery systems excises taxes, according to the district attorney’s office.
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This case was investigated by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Criminals Investigation Bureau.
Youssef is expected back in court on July 9.
