ATLANTA – Vikas Mehta, Walter Valdivia, Pradip Parikh, Jaime Salas, Alpesh Patel, and Darash Shah have been indicted for wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering.
“This case involves an alleged scheme to defraud victims — many of whom are elderly — out of their hard-earned savings,” said U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “It is a particularly egregious type of fraud that is becoming an all-too-common occurrence. It involves dishonest individuals around the world, including in the United States, scaring good people with lies and then cheating them out of their money.”
“These indictments send a solid message that my office will continue to pursue perpetrators of these vicious Social Security-related imposter scams designed to target and harm vulnerable people, including the elderly,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. “I thank the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration criminal investigators for their significant efforts; additionally, I thank the many law enforcement agencies for their substantial contributions to this major investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecuting this case.”
According to U.S. Attorney Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: The defendants allegedly…
