News India Times

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know News India Times (March 14, 2026 - March 20, 2026) March 20, 2026 10 Community Former CFO Nevin Shetty, Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For $35 Million Theft From Start-Up Tech Firm A Mercer Island, Washington, man was sentenced March 5, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two years in prison for four counts of wire fraud for taking and misusing some $35 million from his former employer. Tthe conviction was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Nevin Shetty, 42, was found guilty on November 7, 2025, following a nine-day jury trial. At the sentencing hearing Judge Tana Lin told Shetty, “The loss had sig- nificant and severe effects on the company. Your actions threw into complete turmoil the lives of those 60 people (who were laid off) …. You almost put the company out of business…. You were playing with money that wasn’t yours.” According to records in the case, Shetty was hired as the CFO of a private software company in March 2021. The company was raising capital for its work in multiple rounds of funding. The company, with Shetty, drafted a policy governing how the money raised should be kept safe while the company worked to grow its business. The company adopted an investment policy statement that called for company cash to be invested only in money market accounts or other conservative investments. The company’s overriding objective was to preserve its capital for use in operating and growing the business, the press release from the US Attorney said. Even though Shetty helped draft the policy and dis- seminate it to the board of directors for approval, he secretly moved approximately $35 million in company funds to a cryptocurrency platform he controlled as a side business. Shetty created that side business, called HighTower Treasury, in early 2022. It had no other outside custom- ers. In April 2022, shortly after he was told he could not continue as CFO at his employer due to concerns about his performance, Shetty secretly transferred the funds out of his employer’s account. Between April 1 and 12, 2022, using wire transfers he ordered from a Chase bank branch near his home, Shetty moved $35,000,100 of his employer’s money to an account for HighTower Treasury. No other executives or board members at the company knew of these transfers. Shetty, through HighTower, then placed the money in a realm of cryptocurrency sometimes referred to as decentralized finance or “DeFi.” Shetty chose high-yield DeFi lending protocols that promised to generate returns of 20% or more. According to prosecutors, Shetty’s idea was that HighT- ower would pay Shetty’s company a comparatively small, fixed amount and keep the remainder of the returns for itself. As an owner of HighTower, Shetty stood to person- ally share in those profits, which could have been sub- stantial. In the first month alone, Shetty’s scheme earned roughly $133,000 of profit for himself and his HighTower business partner. However, the cryptocurrency investments that Shetty made with the stolen funds soon began declining and by May 13, 2022, the value of the investments was nearly zero. After the $35 million was essentially gone, Shetty told two of his fellow executives what he had done. He was immediately fired. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kopczynski asked for a nine-year prison sentence on grounds that Shetty’s “serious crime deserves stern punishment,” and that 60 people’s lives and careers were “irrevocably damaged by Shetty’s greed.” Shetty was ordered to pay $35,000,100 and will be on supervised release for three years after prison. Judge Lin imposed a special condition that he not serve as an of- ficer or director of a company without prior permission from the probation office. By a StaffWriter MARCH 9, 2026 Brothers Bhaskar Savani, Arun Savani, and their Associate oper- ated a criminal enterprise for more than a decade U nited States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf announced that three individuals were convicted March 9, 2026, at trial in connection with a racketeering conspiracy encompassing multiple fraud schemes. The defendants, charged in a 42-count indictment in January 2023, have been convicted as follows: Dr. Bhaskar Savani, age 60, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, was convicted of one count of conspiring to violate the RICO law; one count of conspiring to commit visa fraud; one count of visa fraud; one count of conspiring to ob- struct justice; one count of conspiring to commit health- care fraud; eleven counts of healthcare fraud; one count of conspiring to engage in money laundering; twelve counts of money laundering; one count of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service; one count of wire fraud as to a false tax return; and one count of conspiring to violate the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Arun Savani, age 58, of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, was convicted of one count of conspiring to violate the RICO law; one count of conspiring to commit visa fraud; one count of visa fraud; one count of conspiring to obstruct justice; one count of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud; eleven counts of healthcare fraud; one count of conspiring to engage in money laundering; twelve counts of money laundering; one count of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service; and one count of wire fraud as to a false tax return. Aleksandra Radomiak, a/k/a “Ola”, age 48, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, was convicted of one count of conspiring to violate the RICO law; one count of conspiring to com- mit healthcare fraud; and one count of healthcare fraud. As proven at trial, the brothers Bhaskar Savani and Arun Savani built a complex criminal enterprise (the “Savani Group”) that amassed millions of dollars through multiple fraud schemes. Defendant Bhaskar Savani was a dentist by training. Defendant Arun Savani generally controlled the finances of the Savani Group. Through their criminal enterprise, Bhaskar and Arun Savani or- chestrated long-running schemes to enrich themselves, including through: A visa fraud scheme to file false H-1B visa applications and petitions with the U.S. Department of Labor and U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to exploit a workforce comprised of foreign nationals, mostly from India, who were dependent on the Savani Group and forced to kickback wages and fees to the Savani Group. A health care fraud scheme to fraudulently obtain Medicaid contracts and fraudulently bill Medicaid using nominee business owners after Savani Group dental practices were terminated fromMedicaid insurance contracts. The Savani Group defrauded Medicaid of more than $30 million through the scheme. A health care fraud scheme to submit false bills to Medicaid using another dentist’s National Provider Iden- tifier (NPI) on dates when the other dentist was physi- cally outside of the United States and for dental services performed by uncredentialed dentists. A money laundering scheme to transfer and conceal health care fraud proceeds from the nominee-owned dental practices through a complex web of Savani group corporate entities’ bank accounts that ultimately ben- efited the Savani brothers and their associated corporate entities. A tax and wire fraud scheme involving false business expenses and the failure to report some taxable payroll to fraudulently decrease the amount of personal and pay- roll taxes due and owing. Through the scheme the Savani brothers and their companies failed to pay taxes on ap- proximately $1.6 million of unreported personal income and $1.1 million of their employees’ unreported income. They failed to pay personal and payroll taxes and fraudu- lently expensed through their businesses, among other personal expenses, college tuition payments, personal property taxes, and pool and lawn maintenance costs for their personal homes. A mail fraud scheme and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) conspiracy to place prototype den- tal implants, labeled “Not For Human Use,” not cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in human patients without their knowledge or consent. The defendants will be sentenced in July 2026. Bhaskar and Arun Savani, respectively, face a statutory maximum sentence of 420 years’ imprisonment and 415 years’ imprisonment, along with fines. Defendant Aleksandra Radomiak also faces a substantial sentence, with up to 40 years’ imprisonment and fines. This case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector Gen- eral, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. Savani Group Owners And Associate Convicted Of Racketeering Conspiracy From Justice Department Press Release