Howard Mora, 68, and Alan Buxbaum, 66, used counterfeit United States Department of Agriculture stamps to sell misbranded lower-quality beef at inflated prices to consumers.
They garnered hundreds of thousands of money through the fraud, according to the Attorney General Department for Eastern New York.
A. Stein Meat Products was featured in an episode of season two of the reality TV show “The Profit,” starring Marcus Lemonis. In April, 2015, A. Stein settled a lawsuit with Lemonis who said he paid them $190,000 to buy the trademarked brand Brooklyn Burger and never received anything in return. A. Stein claimed the money was a loan for working capital.
According to court documents, in October, 2014, A. Stein Meat had defaulted on all of its debt, and First Capital foreclosed on all of the company’s secured assets, including two Brooklyn Burger trademarks. First capital then sold them to Hercules Food Corp.
Only in New York, you think? Think again because in my reporting career, I have written about Canadians who stole government meat stamps to perpetrate fraud.
