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Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2009-09-09
Author: TIM KLASS ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Intro: Seven people, and a Native American reservation tobacco supplier being sued by a number of states, have been charged with arranging contraband cigarette shipments to an Indian-owned store without paying $28 million in Washington state taxes.
The charges, contained in two grand jury indictments issued in U.S. District Court in Seattle, center on accusations of untaxed cigarette shipment to the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop in Arlington, about 30 miles north of Seattle, a store described in court records as a hotbed of contraband tobacco dealing for years.
Blue Stilly's three founders, all former Stillaguamish tribal council members, were sentenced to prison in March for involvement in untaxed cigarette sales.
Charges of conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarette and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in the sale of untaxed cigarettes were filed last week against Rick Conn, owner of Studio City, Calif. cigarette brokerage Moorpark Ventures, and three distributors - Carol M. Silverman and Jay D. Silverman, owners of FTS Distributors in Murrieta, Calif.; and Matthew M. Cunningham, owner of MRC Enterprises LLC in Albuquerque, N.M.
They are accused of arranging with Robert Stuber, owner of Cowlitz Candy & Tobacco Co. Inc. of Longview, to ship more than a million cartons of cigarettes to Blue Stilly,
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