WASHINGTON: A judge sentenced a northern Virginia man to five years in federal prison for trafficking $13 million in cigarettes out of the commonwealth, including through an elaborate scheme captured on camera by the News4 I-Team.
Stephen Chen, a Fredericksburg small business owner, admitted making bulk purchases of tobacco from big box warehouse stores, then reselling the cigarettes illegally to accomplices for profit.
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Those cigarettes were later trafficked to Pennsylvania and New Jersey to be illegally sold again, according to federal prosecutors.
Chen pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering charge in connection with his cigarette-smuggling operation.