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SALEM -- Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary, 25, who is from the Republic of India, will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland for his role in a three-person scheme that stole millions of dollars from older adults across the United States, including a 77-year-old Salem man.
Prosecutors are recommending that he get about eight to 10 years in prison. They say he was the person who directed the scheme. One of his co-conspirators, Trusha Chaudhary, who is not related to Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary, will be sentenced for her role in the scheme at 3 p.m. today. Documents do not reveal what level of sentence she could get.
THE SCHEME
Federal prosecutors say the scheme, which resulted in six victims losing almost $5 million, involved multiple scams, convincing victims to turn over large amounts of money to the scammers.
Federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge J. Philip Calabrese in an Aug. 6 sentencing memorandum to give Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary 97 to 121 months (about eight to 10 years) in prison and to order him to pay restitution of $5,164,031.
The third co-defendant, Yash Nitinkumar Raval, of Erie, Pa., was sentenced to 19 to 41 months (about 1 1/2 years to about 3 1/2 years) in federal prison in December. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $224,902, jointly and severally with the other defendants.
The sentencing memorandum for Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary filed by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David Toepfer and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McDonough provides some details on how the scams worked.
"From India, (Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary) directed co-conspirators and couriers (Raval and Trusha Chaudary), and shared in funds obtained from the victims through fraud," the filing states.
The filing argues that 8 to 10 years in prison for Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary would "recognize the importance of protecting a vulnerable aging population from this type of predatory behavior."
The three defendants were indicted Oct. 17, 2024, on conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary pleaded guilty to the charge May 7, 2026.
The defendants engaged in schemes by fraud, "primarily causing victims to believe that their accounts and other assets were unsafe due to potential threat from intruders, while then directing them to secure their assets by providing funds and things of value to purportedly trusted persons, including purported representatives of trusted government agencies," the sentencing memorandum states.
In reality, the person the victim was in contact with was one of the three co-conspirators, who would direct their victims to send assets to members of the conspiracy. The scammers also would serve as couriers to meet with the victims, "often at their homes, representing those couriers to be trusted persons helping secure the victim's funds," the filing states.
VICTIM'S WIFE HAD DIED
FBI agent Matt Richter of the Cleveland Division Headquarters Financial Crimes Squad stated in an affidavit that the Salem victim's wife died in August 2023, several months before the scheme began.
In October 2023, the Salem victim clicked on a pop-up ad and his computer froze with a message to contact Microsoft Security on a phone number provided.
He called the number and spoke to someone who claimed to work for Microsoft using the name Howard. The victim was put in contact with a woman named Stacy Brown, who pretended to work for the victim's bank. She told the victim he was the victim of identity theft and needed to send Brown $11,000 worth of gift cards, which the victim did over a period of two days, texting photos of the gift cards to the woman, the prosecutor filing states.
Brown then told the victim to withdraw about $61,000 and follow her instructions to package the cash in a box, text her photos of the cash and the box, and wait for a vehicle to come to his house and collect the box.
On Oct. 23, 2023, when a black SUV pulled up, the victim put the money in the back of the vehicle, and the vehicle left. On Oct. 25, Brown told the victim to withdraw $50,000 from his bank, so he went to his bank to get it, but the bank suspected possible fraud and elder abuse and contacted the FBI, which contacted the victim and learned the details. The FBI then obtained $50,000 in "controlled funds" and waited for a driver to come get it.
On Nov. 7, with the FBI present, the victim spoke on the phone with a person who was using the fake name Frankie. That day, a blue Hyundai Elantra with a Pennsylvania license plate parked in front of the victim's home, and the victim put the money in the vehicle as instructed.
As the vehicle left the victim's home, members of the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office pulled over the vehicle and arrested the driver, Raval. The FBI interviewed Raval, and he said a man using the alias of Al Capone instructed Raval to pick up the package from the Salem victim.
The FBI was able to obtain information about the account associated with the encrypted messaging service associated with Al Capone.
Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudary and his co-conspirators communicated with one another through in-person meetings, mobile messaging applications and other means in order to coordinate their activities, the government filing states.
Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary "acted as a director of couriers of U.S. currency and property" and directed couriers to travel to various locations in the United States to collect money and property belonging to ... victims," it states.
The scheme operated from December 2022 to December 2023, according to the criminal complaint in the case.
An 82-year-old New York City man handed over more than $3 million to co-defendant Raval, who convinced the victim he was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the affidavit states.
DEFENSE FILING
The attorney for Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary filed a sentencing memorandum Aug. 6, stating that 97 to 121 months (8 to 10 years) is the guideline sentencing range that takes into account factors such as the amount of loss from the scheme, the amount of financial hardship experienced by the victims and Raval's criminal history, if any.
The filing asked that Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary receive a sentence below the sentencing guideline range.
"Mr Chaudary was born and raised in the rural neighborhood of Ampura, in the state of Gujarat, India. He grew up in extreme poverty -- water was scarce, his house was in poor condition, and he slept on a mattress on the floor, the filing states, referencing the presentence report written by federal court officials.
"Mr. Chaudhary only has a 10th-grade education and speaks very little English. Mr. Chaudhary obtained his first job at twenty-two years of age and earned only $10.49 per month," it states.
It adds that Chaudhary "does not dispute the illegality of his behavior; however, he prays that this court consider how his life of extreme poverty would contribute to his decision to commit a financial crime when deciding his punishment."
It adds that since his criminal conduct ended, "Mr. Chaudhary has become stronger in his faith and prays that God forgives him for his transgressions and allows him to move forward in accordance with his will."