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The owner and several employees of five unlicensed cannabis smoke shops have pleaded guilty to tax fraud and must close the businesses as part of a plea agreement with Rockland prosecutors.
The Rockland District Attorney’s Office said investigators seized more than $415,000 from bank accounts affiliated with the businesses and 405 pounds of cannabis from five Zava stores across Rockland. None of the stores were licensed by New York State to sell cannabis.
The stores were under investigation for a year when local, state, and federal agencies executed search warrants on March 4 at multiple smoke shops and other locations across the county.
Zava owner Ibrahim Alfalahi, 36 of Nanuet pleaded guilty to felony, third-degree criminal tax fraud.
Pleading guilty to misdemeanor, fifth-degree criminal tax fraud were Abdo Alquhshi, 44 of Nyack, and Sadek Alfalahi, 29 of Nanuet.
These businesses pleaded guilty to felony, second-degree criminal tax fraud: Zava Lafayette Convenience Corp., 28 Lafayette Ave., Suffern; Zava Candy Inc., 214 Smith Road, Nanuet; Zava Flow Inc., 38-40 N. Middletown Road, Nanuet; Zava Central Convenience Corp., 46 E. Central Ave., Pearl River; and Zava Smoke, Inc., aka Zava Convenient Store Inc., Pearl River.
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