SOUTH CAROLINA TOBACCO BROKER SENTENCED

A South Carolina man was sent to federal prison on Monday, March 24 for his role in a cigarette- and marijuana-smuggling operation based in Akwesasne.

William D. Humphries, 67, of Lake City, S.C. was sentenced to six years in federal prison by Judge Norman A. Mordue in U.S. District Court, Syracuse. He was also ordered to undergo three years’ post-release supervision, pay a $7 million monetary judgment and a $4,400 special assessment.

On November 11, 2013, Humphries was convicted after a two-week-long jury trial of one count of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, one count of a wire fraud conspiracy to defraud Canada of tax revenue, one count of a conspiracy to manufacture of tobacco products without a license and forty-one counts of concealment money laundering.

Between 2005 and 2006, Humphries, a tobacco broker and wholesaler from South Carolina, conspired with several Akwesasne residents to bring Canadian blend tobacco and cigarette-making supplies to an unlicensed operation. The cigarettes were smuggled into Canada.

Between the summer of 2005 and May 2006, Humphries supplied the unlicensed manufacturer with approximately one load of cut-rag tobacco per week. He delivered about 44 loads of tobacco, with each load producing 13,200,000 contraband cigarettes, dodging $40,000,000 in Canadian taxes.

The tobacco operation was funded by marijuana smuggling, each used the same routes to enter and leave the U.S.

Humphries was collared in February 2006 after delivering a load of tobacco to Akwesasne, having been stopped for a vehicle infraction. Police seized roughly $88,000 in U.S. currency. A drug-sniffing dog found the cash, which smelled like marijuana, officers said. At trial, witness testimony established that the money found on Humphries was the proceeds of marijuana distribution.

In May 2006, the unlicensed manufacturers dealing with Humphries were arrested on federal marijuana charges and became government witnesses. He continued to sell tobacco and cigarette-making supplies to other unlicensed cigarette manufacturers around the reservation. Humphries continued to receive proceeds of marijuana sales from unlicensed manufacturers, to which he had sold Canadian blend tobacco and supplies. In an attempt to disguise the source of the money, Humphries began taking substantial sums of U.S. currency to the Mohawk Bingo Palace. In recorded conversations heard by the jury with one of the government informants, Humphries said he was inserting large sums of money into the electronic bingo machines and then repeatedly cashing out at the cashiers’ window so he didn’t have cash onhand that smelled like marijuana.

Agencies involved include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police; Homeland Security Investigations; Drug Enforcement Administration; Massena Police Department; United States Border Patrol and the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office.