Man Charged in Connection with Failing to Pay Over $467,000 in Excise Tax

WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Massachusetts Department of Revenue Commissioner Geoffery Snyder have announced that Ashraf Youssef, 61, of Hopkinton, has been charged in connection with allegedly failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in excise tax between 2020 and 2022.

Ashraf Youssef was arraigned on June 18 in Middlesex Superior Court on three counts of tax evasion. Clerk Magistrate Daniel Flaherty released the defendant on personal recognizance. The next court date in this case is July 9.

The allegations are that in 2020, 2021 and 2022 Ashraf Youssef was the owner of AAA Smoke & Vape Shop in Marlborough, along with similar establishments in Sudbury and Whitinsville. During that time, the defendant purchased Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (vape) products from four different out-of-state distributors. As part of those purchases the defendant was responsible for paying excise taxes on these purchases, and the invoices for the products noted the same.

Over the three years that the purchases were made, the defendant paid no excise tax on the products. Based on information compiled from invoices, bank records and delivery records, Ashraf Youssef failed to pay $467,828 in electronic nicotine delivery systems excise taxes.

The excise tax for electronic nicotine delivery systems is imposed by General Laws Chapter 64C, section 7E.

These charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The prosecutor assigned to this case is Assistant District Attorney Whitney Williams. This case was investigated by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Criminals Investigations Bureau.