South Carolina’s famous ‘Obama Mart’ gas station is now in some serious legal trouble after being charged with evading sales tax.
39-year-old Murad A. Alhanik was arrested yesterday by Columbia police and charged with 4 counts of tax evasion for underreporting the income he generated from his gas station on North Main Street.
Alhanik first bought the station in 2011 and rebranded it with the name and picture of our 44th President.
According to a press release, Alhanik only claimed an income of $971,935 when his true sales were $2.6 million over a 4 year period between 2013 and 2016. This underreporting caused him to evade over $136,000 in sales taxes during that time.
Each of the 4 counts of tax evasion he is being charged with includes fines of up to $10,000 and/or up to five years in prison.