Alexandria, Virginia – Amrit Jaswant Singh Chahal, 30, a businessman of Fairfax, Virginia today (November 2) pleaded guilty to charges of orchestrating a multi-year investment fraud scheme causing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses to dozens of victims.
According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Chahal operated an investment fraud scheme through The Kane Capital Investment Group, LLC (Kane Capital), a company he established and operated. The court documents detailed that Chahal executed this fraud through falsely representing that Kane Capital had earned returns of roughly 28 to 34 percent annually, when in fact, Chahal had suffered substantial losses in managing investors’ funds.
Chahal also created falsified brokerage statements to conceal the losses he had sustained and siphoned off some of his investors’ funds by transferring the money to accounts he controlled, or by spending the funds on personal items. The court documents revealed his modus operandi: “When investors asked for returns on their investment, Chahal frequently used money from newer investors to pay disbursements to older investors, without disclosing this fact to his investors.”
Chahal pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of securities and commodities fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the wire fraud count and 25 years in prison on the securities and commodities fraud count when sentenced on Feb. 8, 2019.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, made the announcement after US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea. Assistant US Attorneys Matthew Burke and Jamar K. Walker are prosecuting the case. The Virginia State Corporation Commission provided significant assistance with this investigation.
Tejinder Singh, Editor, India America Today & White House Correspondent