Close X
Friday, November 15, 2024
ADVT 
International

Indian Immigrant Sentenced To 9 Years In Prison For $25 Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme In US

Darpan News Desk, 03 Mar, 2017 11:22 AM
  • Indian Immigrant Sentenced To 9 Years In Prison For $25 Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme In US
The FBI caught hint of the scam after the group used images of fake passports, including one that featured Canadian actress Laura Vandervoort's image from a television show.
 
An Indian-American man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
 
Amit Chaudhry, 44, from Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty on September 21 last year to identity theft, money laundering and visa fraud.
 
"I never really dreamt of being a felon. This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life," Chaudhry said in Alexandria federal court on Thursday before being sentenced, the Washington Post reported.
 
According to the report, Chaudhry, who emigrated from India in 1992, helped his relatives overseas to operate a multimillion-dollar scam that involved money laundering from stolen credit cards and identities through shell bank accounts.
 
He was also part of a related scheme, advertising cheap travel packages. Clients' money would be stolen and their hotel and airfare would be paid for with stolen credit cards.
 
They also made more than $25 million off fake credit cards with the help of a co-conspirator working at American Express in India, the Washington Post report said. 
 
 
The group also used images of fake passports.
 
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uncovered the scheme in part when an agent recognised a photo in one passport as actress Laura Vandervoot. The photo was taken from a scene of her television show "V" involving visas.
 
"What we're dealing with here is not a casual wrong turn," said Jeffrey Abish, the chief information officer for the defrauded company ActioNet. 
 
Chaudhry sent inflated and imagined IT invoices to the company, netting $4.1 million that he has now pledged to repay, according to the report.
 
Defence attorney Danny Onorato told The Post that "this was all done out of family loyalty".
 
Onorato added that Chaudhry has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which might help explain his behaviour.
 
However, Assistant US Attorney Katherine Wong protested Onorato's argument, saying: "Asperger's doesn't cause anyone to steal or open credit card accounts in someone else's name."
 
Chaudhry is cooperating with authorities, who are still finding more victims and tracking down co-conspirators in the US and abroad. 

MORE International ARTICLES

US Man Throws Hot Coffee Over Muslim Woman, Calls Her Terrorist

US Man Throws Hot Coffee Over Muslim Woman, Calls Her Terrorist
A homeless man at a Dunkin Donuts store in US threw hot coffee in the face of a Muslim woman, called her a terrorist and assaulted her on Monday, police said.

US Man Throws Hot Coffee Over Muslim Woman, Calls Her Terrorist

Canada Asks Taliban To Free Couple Held For 4 Years In Afghanistan

Canada Asks Taliban To Free Couple Held For 4 Years In Afghanistan
Canada called Monday for the unconditional release of a Canadian man and his American wife after a new video appeared to show them begging their governments to intervene on their behalf with their Afghan captors.

Canada Asks Taliban To Free Couple Held For 4 Years In Afghanistan

Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Jordan Attack That Killed Canadian

Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Jordan Attack That Killed Canadian
AMMAN, Jordan — The extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility Tuesday for a series of shooting attacks on police and tourists in Jordan that killed 10 people, including a woman from Canada.

Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Jordan Attack That Killed Canadian

Raheel Sharif Helped Me Leave Pakistan, Says Pervez Musharraf

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said Pakistan army's ex- chief General Raheel Sharif's intervention helped him in exiting Pakistan, indicating the powerful influence wielded by the military in the country's affairs.

Raheel Sharif Helped Me Leave Pakistan, Says Pervez Musharraf

ISIS Offers $1 Million For Head Of Kurdish Woman Who Fought Them In Syria, Iraq

ISIS Offers $1 Million For Head Of Kurdish Woman Who Fought Them In Syria, Iraq
ISIS has offered a $1 million reward for the killing of a Kurdish-Danish woman who dropped out of university in 2014 to fight the terror group in Syria and Iraq. 

ISIS Offers $1 Million For Head Of Kurdish Woman Who Fought Them In Syria, Iraq

'Grave Concerns' About Donald Trump's Mental Stability: Harvard Doctors

'Grave Concerns' About Donald Trump's Mental Stability: Harvard Doctors
"We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the mental stability of our President-elect," the letter published by the Huffington Post read.

'Grave Concerns' About Donald Trump's Mental Stability: Harvard Doctors