Auto repair mogul gets five years for postal truck repair scam

A New York auto repair magnate who was convicted of tax fraud has been sentenced to five years in prison for running a $30 million scheme in which he bribed US Postal Service employees to get postal truck repair jobs.

Ibrahim “Tony” Issa, 57, who owns First Star Auto Repair in the Bronx and shops in Florida, Michigan and Texas, was convicted last year of paying bribes to USPS vehicle managers that included vacations, $650 surf-and-turf dinners and $2,000 tucked into a napkin at a restaurant.

He ran the scheme from 2012 until his 2016 arrest, according to court papers. During that time frame, he also screwed over taxpayers by misreporting his businesses’ income to evade paying taxes.

Issa’s lawyer, prominent defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, pushed for his client to get 29 months or less in prison, arguing that despite his crimes, Issa has a heart of gold and gave jobs to people in dire straits, like single mothers and people who struggled with drug addiction.

“I ask your honor to see the man and not the crime,” Brafman pleaded to District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan federal court.

But McMahon said the fact that Issa has a “Janus-faced personality” doesn’t excuse what he did.

Issa is scheduled to surrender for incarceration on Sept. 5 and McMahon said she would recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that he serve his time at a low-security prison in Pennsylvania.

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