On August 13, 2019, in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Hardik Patel and Mahmadyasin Shekh were indicted on charges of mail fraud, when they, and others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly participated in a scheme with the intent to defraud and obtain money by means of materially false representations.

According to the indictment, other members of the scheme called victims and misrepresented that they worked for various Federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Social Security Administration. The caller told the victim that if he or she did not send money as directed by the caller, he or she would be immediately arrested. The caller then instructed the victim to send cash to a specific location and to a specific, fictitious name. The cash was sent via Federal Express packages from various locations nationwide to various locations within in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Patel, Shekh, and other participants in the scheme possessed fraudulent identification documents bearing the fictitious names of the recipients of the cash and a photo of themselves, which they used to pick up the packages. They then kept a percentage of the fraud proceeds and sent the rest to other members of the scheme. As a result of the scheme, Patel, Shekh, and other participants in the scheme fraudulently obtained at least $219,983 from approximately 12 victims.

If convicted, Patel and Shekh will be ordered to forfeit to the United States any property which constitutes, or is derived from, proceeds traceable to the offense or offenses of conviction. Patel and Shekh could face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available document: E.D. Wis. Indict. filed Aug. 13, 2019.