NY Post
https://nypost.com/2019/09/24/beef-sellers-used-fake-usda-stamps-on-low-quality-cuts-feds/
Beef sellers used fake USDA stamps on low-quality cuts: feds
By Andrew Denney and Ebony Bowden
September 24, 2019 | 7:28pm
These guys were not a cut above the rest.
Two Brooklyn meat wholesalers peddled bootleg beef to unsuspecting New Yorkers for years — slapping cheaper grades of meat with phony USDA stamps to pack in the profit, according to feds.
Howard Mora, 67, and Alan Buxbaum, 65, are on the block for allegedly loading up on “Choice”-grade beef and selling it as superior “Prime”-grade meat while at the helm of A. Stein Meat Products between 2011 and 2014.
The duo — whose business was once featured on CNBC reality show “The Profit” — ordered their employees to systematically slice the “Choice” stamps off of their stock, and re-stamp them with counterfeit “Prime,” prosecutors said.
The masterminds of the operation were arrested Tuesday morning in the bogus beef sting and are on the hook for a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“Customers and consumers are entitled to get what they pay for, especially when the product is food on their tables,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said.
They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday afternoon and were released on $250,000 bond each.
Once a thriving 75-year-old family company, A. Stein Meat Products went out of business in October 2014 after it defaulted on its debts.
First Capital foreclosed on the company and its Brooklyn Burger trademarks.
This isn’t the first time Mora and Buxbaum have run afoul of the law.
In March 2014, around the same time they were allegedly hustling their bogus beef, the men turned to Marcus Lemonis — the billionaire host of CNBC reality business series “The Profit” — in a bid to turn around their ballooning debt.
Lemonis, who swoops in each episode to save a troubled small business, offered to invest $1 million into the meat company in exchange for a 50% stake.
He then offered to buy the “Brooklyn Burgers” brand for $190,000 — but when the men never handed over the trademarks, Lemonis sued.
In an incredible twist, the meat wholesalers counter-sued when a judge ruled Lemonis didn’t forge a valid contract for the trademarks. The parties reached a private settlement in 2015.
If convicted on the fresh bootleg beef charges, the defendants face a maximum 20-year imprisonment. They next appear in court on Oct. 21.
Buxbaum’s attorney Arthur Aidala said his client was looking forward to his day in court.
“Mr. Buxbaum has a lifelong history of being a law-abiding citizen who ran a reputable company until five years ago and looks forward to his whole exoneration after a trial,” Aidala told The Post.
A lawyer for Mora declined to comment.
Two Brooklyn meat wholesalers peddled bootleg beef to unsuspecting New Yorkers for years — slapping cheaper grades of meat with phony USDA stamps to pack in the profit, according to feds.
Howard Mora, 67, and Alan Buxbaum, 65, are on the block for allegedly loading up on “Choice”-grade beef and selling it as superior “Prime”-grade meat while at the helm of A. Stein Meat Products between 2011 and 2014.
The duo — whose business was once featured on CNBC reality show “The Profit” — ordered their employees to systematically slice the “Choice” stamps off of their stock, and re-stamp them with counterfeit “Prime,” prosecutors said.
The masterminds of the operation were arrested Tuesday morning in the bogus beef sting and are on the hook for a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“Customers and consumers are entitled to get what they pay for, especially when the product is food on their tables,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said.
They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday afternoon and were released on $250,000 bond each.
Once a thriving 75-year-old family company, A. Stein Meat Products went out of business in October 2014 after it defaulted on its debts.
First Capital foreclosed on the company and its Brooklyn Burger trademarks.
This isn’t the first time Mora and Buxbaum have run afoul of the law.
In March 2014, around the same time they were allegedly hustling their bogus beef, the men turned to Marcus Lemonis — the billionaire host of CNBC reality business series “The Profit” — in a bid to turn around their ballooning debt.
Lemonis, who swoops in each episode to save a troubled small business, offered to invest $1 million into the meat company in exchange for a 50% stake.
He then offered to buy the “Brooklyn Burgers” brand for $190,000 — but when the men never handed over the trademarks, Lemonis sued.
In an incredible twist, the meat wholesalers counter-sued when a judge ruled Lemonis didn’t forge a valid contract for the trademarks. The parties reached a private settlement in 2015.
If convicted on the fresh bootleg beef charges, the defendants face a maximum 20-year imprisonment. They next appear in court on Oct. 21.
Buxbaum’s attorney Arthur Aidala said his client was looking forward to his day in court.
“Mr. Buxbaum has a lifelong history of being a law-abiding citizen who ran a reputable company until five years ago and looks forward to his whole exoneration after a trial,” Aidala told The Post.
A lawyer for Mora declined to comment.
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