On Thursday, December 22, US District Judge David L. Bunning sentenced Anthony Cosica, 54, of Pinetop, Arizona, to 24 months in federal prison. Eight other defendants, including three from eastern Kentucky and two from Russia, have already been sentenced, for charges including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, and violations of the PACT Act. This case marks the first prosecution in the nation for violation of the PACT Act, which is a 2010 federal law enacted to prevent trafficking in untaxed cigarettes. According to court documents and evident presented at trial, from 2008 to 2013, the defendants devised a scheme that defrauded federal, state and local governments across the country out of cigarette excise taxes totaling approximately $48 million. The Leader of the conspiracy, John Maddux Jr, 56 of Russel, KY, operated mail order/online businesses that sold the cigarettes at discount prices. Maddux operated with other co-conspirators operating similar business by disguising the cigarettes and marking them as gift items to send through U.S. Mail, another violation of the PACT Act. He received 10 years in prison.