Man was jailed for nearly 4 years for a $2 million fraud Covid scheme (representative)
New York:
A 27-year-old man of Indian descent has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for orchestrating a $2 million plan that defrauded victims by making false promises amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guaravjit “Raj” Singh of Montgomery, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before US District Court Peter Sheridan to an information charge that charged him with one count of wire fraud.
The judge handed down the 46-month sentence in Trenton federal court on Wednesday, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said Thursday.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, as of May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Singh has made an arrangement to cheat and take personal advantage of 10 victims fraudulently getting him to send more than $2 million to obtain Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and then steal the money and not provide the PPE to the victims as promised.
Mr Singh induced victims to enter into an agreement under which he would receive approximately $7.1 million for approximately 1.5 million medical gowns, which would eventually be delivered to New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The victims have transferred Mr Singh $712,500, representing an initial 10 percent down payment for the medical gowns.
After receiving these funds from the victims, Mr Singh made additional misrepresentations and apologies to the victims, in order to ensure that they would receive the medical gowns.
Instead of buying and delivering medical gowns, Mr. Singh used the money for personal expenses.
In addition to the jail term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Mr Singh to three years of supervised release.
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