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3 Brothers Sentenced In Multimillion Dollar Cellphone Trafficking Ring

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Three brothers have been sentenced after pleading guilty to operating a multimillion dollar cellphone trafficking ring.

Kanan Mustafa, 40, Jamal Mustafa, 45, and Nizar Mustafa, 26, each were convicted of conspiracy to engage in interstate transportation of stolen goods and conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims.

According to the defendants' guilty pleas and court documents, from 2006 through 2014 the three brothers, along with other members of the Mustafa crime family organization, used stolen identities and other criminal means to get $20 million worth of cellphones and other electronic devices. The Mustafa organization then trafficked these devices throughout the U.S. and overseas.

Kanan, Jamal, Nizar and three other Mustafa brothers operated 13 mobile device stores and used these stores to sell the stolen devices at substantial profits, according to the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office.

From 2010 through 2014, the brothers also defrauded the IRS by paying themselves in cash, failing to file the proper tax documents or filing false documents, according to their guilty pleas and court documents.

All 21 members of the trafficking ring have pleaded guilty. Twenty of them have been sentenced.

Kanan Mustafa was sentenced to 130 months in prison. Jamal and Nizar Mustafa were each sentenced to 87 months in prison. Each brother was also ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

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