Source: United States Department of Justice News
Defendant Used Multiple Credit Cards and Bank Accounts to Perpetrate his Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Jasminder Singh was sentenced by United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon to 48 months’ imprisonment for bank fraud and money laundering related to Singh’s scheme to defraud American Express of more than $4.7 million. Singh was also ordered to pay restitution to American Express in the amount of $4,651,845.08 and to forfeit $3,018,602.22. Singh was convicted of the charges on April 27, 2022 by a federal jury following a one-week trial.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“Jasminder Singh fraudulently used American Express credit cards to purchase millions of dollars’ worth of Apple products, which he sold to enrich himself, and then tried to leave American Express holding the bag,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Today’s sentence sends a message to those, like the defendant, who defraud financial institutions, that there are serious consequences when their lies and deceit catch up to them and the bill comes due.”
According to court filings and the evidence presented at trial, Singh used four business entities that he created and controlled, and 10 American Express credit cards in those entities’ names, to purchase thousands of Apple iPhones and other Apple products that he then sold overseas for millions of dollars. Between November 2017 and December 2019, Singh misrepresented to American Express his inability to repay more than $4.7 million in charges incurred from his purchase of Apple products in order to secure additional credit, and used a series of financial transactions to conceal the money he obtained from selling the purchased iPhones. Singh used the proceeds from his fraudulent scheme to pay for personal expenses and purchase luxury items, including a $1.3 million home in Fremont, California paid for in cash.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael W. Gibaldi and Trial Attorney Patrick J. Campbell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha R. Payne of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
JASMINDER SINGH
Age: 45
Fremont, California
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 21-CR-397 (CBA)