In $9.3 Million Senior Citizen Scam, 2 To Be Deported To India, Others Get Jail

India-West News Desk

ST. LOUIS, MO – Five individuals have been sentenced for their roles in a multi-state wire fraud scheme that defrauded elderly victims of an estimated $9.3 million, U.S. authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced Sital Singh, 43, to four years in prison and ordered him to pay $6.6 million in restitution.

Co-conspirators Chintankumar Parekh, 52, and Mehulkumar Darji, 42, also received four-year sentences, while couriers Dariona Lambert, 24, and Zhamoniq Stevens, 24, were sentenced to two years and 18 months, respectively. All had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, the scheme involved overseas scammers who falsely claimed victims’ financial accounts were compromised and instructed them to convert savings into gold bars or coins. The assets were then collected by couriers, while handlers coordinated pickups and payments.

In one case, an 82-year-old St. Louis woman was directed to purchase about $250,000 in gold. A courier sent to collect it was intercepted by law enforcement.

Authorities said Parekh and Darji, who are in the United States unlawfully, will be deported after serving their sentences.

“Sital Singh and his co-conspirators are parasites. Their crimes devastated their elderly victims by robbing them of their life savings,” said Chris Crocker, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI St. Louis Division.