An Indian American man from New Jersey has been sentenced by a Florida court to 75 months jail for money laundering through a scam targeting senior citizens and ordered to forfeit nearly $2 million.
Pranav Patel, 33, who pleaded guilty in December 2024, was involved in a fraud scheme targeting senior citizens between October and December 2023, according to court documents cited by a Justice department news release.
Patel Conspirators involved in the scheme called from call centers abroad and fraudulently identified themselves as government agents such as officers from the United States Department of the Treasury.
In some instances, the conspirators told victims that there were outstanding warrants for their arrest, and they needed to pay to clear the warrants. On other occasions, the conspirators told victims that they needed to provide their money and gold to the officers for safekeeping.
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Patel served as a money mule in the fraud scheme. He drove from New Jersey to pick up money and gold from senior citizens in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere along the east coast of the United States.
During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, one victim from whom Patel picked up fraud proceeds told U.S. District Judge William F. Jung that because of the scam, he was unable to afford his mortgage payments, had to sell his house, and had to depend on Social Security benefits for all his living expenses.
In December 2023, Patel traveled to a residence in Hillsborough County to retrieve what he believed was a box of gold without knowing he was under law enforcement surveillance. He was promptly arrested after picking up the box. In total, Patel laundered $1,791,301 as part of the fraud scheme.
“Preying on vulnerable, unsuspecting elderly victims to rob them of their hard-earned money is despicable. Even worse, the defendant’s co-conspirators posed as government agents to defraud victims of nearly $2 million, threatening them with arrest if they didn’t follow their demands,” said U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Robert Engel of the Tampa Field Office.