Financial Fraud: Hardev Panesar Sentenced For His Leadership Role In An Immigration Fraud Scheme

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<h2>San Diego Man Who Posed as a Federal Agent to Defraud Immigrants out of &dollar;2&period;5 Million Sentenced to 91 Months<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Andrew Young &lpar;619&rpar; 546-7981 and Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Meghan Heesch &lpar;619&rpar; 546-9442<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SAN DIEGO – Hardev Panesar of San Diego was sentenced today in federal court by U&period;S&period; District Judge Gonzalo P&period; Curiel to 91 months in custody for his leadership role in an immigration fraud scheme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to his plea agreement&comma; Panesar conspired with others&comma; including Rafael Hastie and Gurdev Singh&comma; to induce unauthorized immigrants to pay money based on false and fraudulent claims that the defendants could secure immigration status for the victims and their families&period; Panesar misled the victims into believing that he could obtain immigration documents or legal immigration status by pretending to be an agent with the Department of Homeland Security&period; Panesar wore a DHS jacket and showed purported official credentials to his victims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plea agreement outlined several dates in 2016 where Panesar successfully obtained thousands of dollars by pretending to be a DHS official&period; The money paid by the victims totaled over &dollar;2&period;5 million&comma; which was converted to the personal use and benefit of Panesar and his co-defendants&period; According to statements made at sentencing&comma; Panesar also lost a significant portion of the money he stole from victims as a victim himself in a Nigerian &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;advanced fee scheme&period;” At a prior sentencing hearing&comma; one of the victims testified in court that his family gave Panesar and Gurdev Singh approximately &dollar;250&comma;000 with the hopes of receiving green cards—a devastating <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"943">financial<&sol;a> loss that contributed to the depression and eventual suicide of a family member&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Panesar’s sentence includes a six-month custodial sentence for an additional charge of Failure to Appear&period; On June 21&comma; 2018&comma; while released on bond&comma; Panesar fled to Mexico and failed to appear at a Motion Hearing before Judge Curiel set for June 22&comma; 2018&period; He was captured in Mexico and deported to the United States approximately six weeks later&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier this year&comma; Panesar’s co-defendants were sentenced by Judge Curiel&period; Rafael Hastie was sentenced to 46 months in custody and ordered to pay &dollar;942&comma;000 in restitution to the victims&period; Gurdev Singh was sentenced to 27 months in custody and ordered to pay &dollar;392&comma;850 in restitution to the victims&period; The Court ordered Panesar to pay approximately &dollar;2&period;5 million in restitution to his victims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additionally&comma; last week&comma; former HSI supervisor Johnny Martin was found guilty by a federal jury in a related case for the false statements he made to the FBI in connection with their investigation into this immigration fraud scheme&period; Martin will be sentenced on January 17&comma; 2020&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In imposing the sentence&comma; Judge Curiel described Panesar’s scheme as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;one of the more serious cases this Court has handled” in recent years&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mr&period; Panesar preyed on the most vulnerable…these are people who wanted to live and experience the American dream&period; &period; &period; &period; Mr&period; Panesar pretended he could be the one who provided the American dream&period;” Judge Curiel added&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This offense is serious because of the heartlessness and callousness required to perpetuate this fraud on so many for so long&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Pretending to be a legitimate government agent to scam hundreds of individuals of their life savings undermines the crucial trust we bestow upon our law enforcement partners&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Robert S&period; Brewer&comma; Jr&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When that trust is betrayed for personal enrichment&comma; our office will aggressively prosecute the fraudsters and seek restitution for the victims&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Panesar’s fraud scheme was particularly egregious as he attempted to use the veil of a U&period;S&period; government official to obtain millions of dollars from those trying to obtain legal status in the United States&comma;” said Scott Brunner&comma; FBI Special Agent in Charge&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Falsely claiming to be a federal official degrades the integrity of the system and therefore has serious consequences&period; Today&comma; Panesar’s destructive scheme has been shut down&comma; he has a federal conviction&comma; and must serve a prison sentence as a result of his actions&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>DEFENDANTS Case Numbers&colon; 17CR1371-GPC&comma; 18CR3229-GPC<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hardev PANESAR Age&colon; 71 El Cajon&comma; California<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rafael HASTIE Age&colon; 49 Tijuana&comma; Mexico<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gurdev SINGH Age&colon; 58 Bakersfield&comma; California<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SUMMARY OF CHARGES<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>17CR1371-GPC<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Count 1&colon; 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 1349&comma; Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maximum Penalty&colon; Twenty years in prison&comma; &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&comma; forfeiture and restitution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Counts 2-4&colon; 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 1343&comma; Wire Fraud&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maximum Penalty&colon; Twenty years in prison&comma; &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&comma; forfeiture and restitution<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Counts 5-10&colon; 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 912&comma; False Personation of an Officer or Employee of the United States&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maximum Penalty&colon; Three years in prison&comma; &dollar;250&comma;000 fine<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Count 11&colon; 31 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 5324&lpar;a&rpar;&lpar;3&rpar;&comma; Structuring Domestic Financial Institutions&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maximum Penalty&colon; Ten years in prison&comma; &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&comma; forfeiture<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>18CR3229-GPC<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Count 1&colon; 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 3146&lpar;a&rpar;&lpar;1&rpar;&comma; Failure to Appear After Pre-Trial Release&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maximum Penalty&colon; Ten years in prison&comma; &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>AGENCY<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Federal Bureau of Investigation<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection &&num;8211&semi; Office of Field Operations<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection &&num;8211&semi; Office of Professional Responsibility<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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