Two of the six people accused of smuggling cigarettes from Vietnam and unlawfully selling them in Nebraska have been mostly cleared by a federal jury.
The jury decided Wednesday Nhu Van Phan and Tang “Janny” Nguyen weren’t actively involved. The only guilty verdict returned was that Tang Nguyen had possessed contraband cigarettes.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports the four others charged in the cigarette-importing scheme have all entered pleas and are set for sentencing. Prosecutors say the group had more than 10,000 cigarettes shipped to homes in Lincoln and Nebraska City, and then resold them without paying state and federal taxes.
Defense attorneys argued that Tang Nguyen and Nhu Van Phan didn’t know it was illegal to get cigarettes from Vietnam and didn’t intend to defraud anyone.