CHARLOTTE — Two Charlotte businessmen will serve time in prison for selling fraudulently obtained iPhones in the U.S. and internationally.
In a news release, the district attorney’s office said Hamzeh Jamal Alasfar, 31, and Tayseer Issam Alkhayyat, 35, were each sentenced to 46 months in prison for the multi-year scheme.
The goal of the scheme was to buy, sell, and ship the iPhones domestically and internationally.
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Court records show Alasfar and Alkhayyat ran the scheme from 2013 to 2020. Dozens of the packages, which also included other devices, were sent to buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
The pair ran several businesses in Charlotte that they used to carry out the scheme. Along with their employees, the men bought new phones from people who got ahold of them fraudulently.
Prosecutors believe between January 2019 and January 2020, they sold and shipped more than 20,000 new iPhones for over $20 million through one of their businesses.
Alasfar and Alkhayyat pleaded guilty on March 2 to interstate and foreign transportation of stolen property.
The two were ordered to serve three years under court supervision when they’re released from prison.
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