CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- Forfeiting his rights to 10 7-Eleven convenience stores in New York and four in Virginia, Farrukh Baig has been sentenced in federal court to 87 months in prison following his Sept. 22, 2014, guilty plea to committing wire fraud and concealing and harboring illegal aliens employed at 7-Eleven franchise stores located throughout Long Island, N.Y., and Virginia.
According to court filings and facts presented in court, beginning in 2000, the defendant, who owned, managed and controlled 14 7-Eleven franchise c-stores during the course of the conspiracy, hired dozens of illegal aliens, equipped them with more than 20 identities stolen from U.S. citizens, housed them at residences he and his coconspirators owned and stole substantial portions of his workers’ wages.
The court also ordered the defendant to forfeit five houses in New York worth more than $1.3 million and pay $2.5 million in restitution for the back wages that he stole from his workers.
As reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, during the scheme, the defendant generated more than $182 million in proceeds from the franchise stores.
Declining to comment further, 7-Eleven spokesperson Margaret Chabris told CSP Daily News, “We believe the judge’s decision speak for itself.”
This sentence marks an important milestone in the government’s ongoing investigation, which is already one of the largest criminal alien employment investigations ever conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Using the 7-Eleven brand in our neighborhoods, the defendant exploited his alien employees, stealing their wages and requiring them to live in unregulated boarding houses. He now faces time in prison for not only systematically employing illegal aliens, but also for concealing their employment by stealing the identities of children and even the dead,” said Kelly T. Currie, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
In June 2013, the federal government indicted eight men and one woman.
In September 2014, five convenience-store franchisees and operators entered guilty pleas. Baig and Malik Yousaf faced up to 20 years’ imprisonment, and Bushra Baig, Shahnawaz Baig and Zahid Baig faced up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
At that time, Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. denounced the actions of the franchisees. The c-store chain said it would “not tolerate this conduct in its franchisees and will continue to cooperate with federal authorities in this matter.”
“The Justice Department announced it had secured guilty pleas for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants for financial gain from former, independent 7-Eleven franchisees,” the company said a September 2014 statement provided to CSP Daily News. “7-Eleven Inc. has cooperated fully with the government's investigation of this matter for more than three years. Good, hardworking franchisees are the backbone of the 7-Eleven brand. The defendants who admitted their guilt today violated federal law and also the trust that 7-Eleven placed in them as franchisees under the franchise system.”
Separately, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles has disqualified attorney Gerald Marks and his law firm Marks & Klein LLP from further participation in a lawsuit Marks had brought against 7-Eleven Inc. on behalf of a 7-Eleven franchisee, according to information 7-Eleven provided to CSP Daily News.
Dilip Patel v. 7-Eleven Inc., filed in March 2013, alleges that 7-Eleven terminated franchisees' stores in Riverside, Calif., in violation of the California Franchise Relations Act and other state codes.
The court disqualified Marks for ethical misconduct, the convenience-store retailer said.
The court held that Marks had violated the California Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers by paying a witness, Kurt McCord, a former employee of 7-Eleven's asset protection department, for fact testimony.
Marks told Blue MauMau that he plans to appeal the court ruling. But he also said that even if the decision stands against him and his firm, the case will continue to go forward.
Click here for the full Blue Mau Mau report.
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