An Indian national has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado has said.
Dhruv Jani (40) has also been ordered to pay $ 1.1 million restitution, a media release issued on Friday said.
According to the plea agreement, starting in January 2020, Jani was part of a conspiracy to launder funds obtained through a government official imposter scheme.
Victims in the U.S. were contacted by telephone and coerced into believing that they were under investigation by “agents” of federal law enforcement agencies.
Federal prosecutors said the victims were told that their identities had been connected to a criminal incident, that their imminent arrest and/or deportation from the United States had been ordered by law enforcement and that the only way to avoid arrest and/or deportation was to pay the “government” large sums of money.
The “agent” then convinced the victim to package and ship the cash to alleged government officials via Federal Express or United Parcel Service. Many of these victims were also directed to mail packages of cash to individuals in other states.
“This sentence holds Mr Jani accountable for his malicious acts of orchestrating Social Security-related and government imposter scams that preyed upon vulnerable persons,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration.
