The former president of an investment company in Woodbridge Monday admitted he defrauded investors out of more than $250,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Shreyans Desai, 27, of Edison, president of Shreysiddh Capital LLC, located in Iselin, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court to Counts One and Two of a superseding indictment charging him with wire fraud. The third count in the indictment, securities fraud, will be dismissed after Desai is sentenced.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
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Desai misled a number of investors about his licensing status and the registration status of the company to induce them to entrust their money to him so that he could trade securities on their behalf.
Desai then sought to retain control of the funds by providing investors with an inflated value of their investments, and also inflated the amount of commissions he purportedly earned through trading those funds.
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The wire fraud counts to which Desai pleaded guilty each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for August 13, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane H. Yoon and Senior Litigation
Counsel Andrew Leven of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.
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