From: Courthouse News Service
(CN) – LaserShip, a last-mile delivery service, must claims that it owes New York City up to $53 million for smuggling tribal cigarettes, a federal judge ruled.
The Big Apple had accused LaserShip last year of smuggling 75,000 cartons of cigarettes from (nonparty) Seneca Nation into the metropolis. In addition to damages of about $3 million, the city seeks a civil penalty of up to $50 million.
It said the large East Coast courier had partnered with a group of upstate smoke shops to deliver untaxed cigarettes to residential customers in New York City and New Jersey.
The Prevent-All-Cigarette-Trafficking Act, passed in 2010, prohibits the U.S. Post Office from carrying cigarettes in the mail.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan refused Thursday to dismiss the allegations against LaserShip.
