CASE NAME: United States v. Choksi, et al., Criminal Case No. 3:19-cr-160
COURT: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division
CASE SUMMARY: The remaining defendants in this case, Shehzadkhan Khandakhan Pathan, Pradipsinh Dharmendrasinh Parmar, and Sumer Kantilal Patel have each pleaded guilty to offenses in connection with their participation in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The purpose of this conspiracy was to defraud victims of money through unsolicited telephone calls originating from a call center in India operated by Pathan. Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for this conspiracy. Defendants Pathan and Parmar each also face an additional mandatory minimum sentence of two years for their convictions of aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, conspirators at the call center used automated, previously recorded calls, commonly referred to as “robocalls,” to initiate contact with victims. These robocalls usually contained messages designed to create a sense of urgency with the call recipient, including threats of serious legal problems, usually criminal in nature, that required immediate action in order to avoid drastic consequences, including arrest and/or significant financial penalties. Victims would be instructed to stay on the line or to call a particular number.
Eventually victims would speak with one or more live persons, who used a variety of scripts incorporating different fraud schemes to persuade victims to send money, including the following scripts:
- Conspirators impersonated an official with a federal law enforcement agency, such as the FBI or DEA, to convince victims that they were the subjects of criminal investigations, often involving the prospective seizure of all of the victims’ financial assets. Conspirators told victims to ship packages of cash or preloaded payment cards to addresses purportedly used to receive official government mail as demonstrations of good faith to avoid immediate arrest and prosecution. Conspirators promised victims that the money would be returned, sometimes with interest, if they were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.
- Conspirators also posed as employees of federal agencies, such as the Social Security Administration or the Internal Revenue Service, to convince victims to send packages of cash and/or preloaded payment cards, or to wire funds, in order to keep or restore their federal benefits or as payment for purported tax bills.
- Conspirators also told victims that they had been approved for loans that required an earnest money or initial installment payment, which conspirators directed victims to send by wire transfer via Western Union, MoneyGram, or Walmart2Walmart. The typical amount of the requested transfers ranged from several hundred dollars up to three thousand dollars.
Pathan operated the call center in India through which the robocalls and follow-up calls were made. Pathan also recruited, supervised, and operated a network of money couriers in the United States who would retrieve victim shipments and wire transfers and then send the bulk of those funds to conspirators, including Pathan, through deposits into various bank accounts and via informal money transmitters, known as hawalas. These networks operated in several states, including Virginia, Minnesota, New Jersey, California, Indiana, Texas, and Illinois. Victim cash shipments were often directed to addresses in these states. Parmar and Patel worked for Pathan as money mules.
CASE STATUS: Pathan is scheduled to be sentenced on September 16. Parmar and Patel are scheduled to be sentenced on September 20.
VICTIM RESPONSE: To ensure that members of the public, including potential victims of this conspiracy, are informed of developments in this ongoing case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has established a page on its website, available at the following link: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/united-states-v-chirag-choksi-et-al.
The website currently includes a copy of the second superseding indictment, plea agreements, and statements of fact filed in this case with respect to defendants Pathan, Parmar, and Patel. Victims with questions can email the United States Attorney’s Office at USAVAE.DutchParcel@usdoj.gov, referencing the above case name and docket number. The website includes information for submitting victim impact statements, which may be emailed or mailed to:
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
Attn: Dutch Parcel
919 E. Main Street, Suite 1900
Richmond, VA 23219
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Victim Advisory- United States v. Choksi, et al. Case Updates - Department of Justice
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