Man pleads guilty to cashing 126 false tax refund checks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Connecticut convenience store owner has pleaded guilty to illegally cashing 126 false federal income-tax refund checks totaling more than $787,000.
The U.S. Attorney's office says 50-year-old Asafak Bhura pleaded guilty last week to attempting to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws.
Court records show Bhura cashed the checks for a person he knew only by a first name. Bhura also deposited checks into his personal bank accounts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Federal prosecutors say there's no evidence Bhura filed the false tax returns. But in cashing the checks, he violated procedures that require proper identification for check-cashing customers.
Bhura has agreed to pay $39,000 in restitution, which reflects the commissions he took for cashing the checks.
He faces up to 16 months in prison when he's sentenced in August.