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Press Release

Federal Judge Sentences Former Waxhaw, N.C. Resident To 33 Months For Orchestrating An $845,000 Investment Scheme

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Kamlesh Gopal Pardasani, 50, formerly of Waxhaw, N.C., was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for orchestrating an $845,000 investment scheme, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad also ordered Pardasani to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $880,000 in restitution.  

Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, joins Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and today’s court proceedings, from August 2016 to June 2017, Pardasani executed a scheme to defraud at least seven victims of at least $845,000, by inducing the victims to invest in his company, FreightGuru.com LLC (FreightGuru). Court documents show that Pardasani induced his victims to invest their money by falsely representing that he would use the investors’ money to fund a specific shipment of goods, and that, once the shipment cleared, the victims’ return rate on their initial investment would be between 15% and 20%. Pardasani further lied to victims by falsely assuring them that their funds were secure and safe, when in fact he used the victims’ money to fund his lifestyle, pay off personal creditors, and to engage in high-risk securities trading in his personal trading account. After failing to invest the victims’ funds as promised, Pardasani continued to make additional false and fraudulent representations to lull victims and provided excuses for failing to return the victims’ money. 

Pardasani was arrested in January 2020, at the Philadelphia International Airport upon entering the United States from India. In July 2020, Pardasani pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

The FBI’s Charlotte Field Office led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

Updated August 5, 2021

Topic
Financial Fraud