A U.S. court just sentenced 43-year-old Sital Singh to four years in prison for helping run a scam that tricked elderly people into handing over millions by buying gold, according to federal officials.
Indian-origin man gets arrested by FBI
Judge Matthew T. Schelp, sitting in St. Louis, handed down the sentence and told Singh he has to pay back $6.6 million to those he and his crew targeted.
This wasn’t something Singh did alone; the scam stretched across the country and even involved people overseas.
Singh admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, along with four others: Dariona Lambert and Zhamoniq Stevens, both 24, plus Chintankumar Parekh, 52, and Mehulkumar Darji, 42.
Who is Sital Singh?
Prosecutors say Lambert and Stevens acted as couriers, picking up gold bars or coins from victims. Singh, Parekh, and Darji were the coordinators, telling the couriers what to do and paying them cash.
The whole thing worked because scammers overseas would reach out to older folks, usually by phone or online messages, and convince them that their bank or retirement accounts were at risk.
The victims believed the only way to keep their money safe was to buy gold and hand it over to someone who’d show up at their door.
US Court Orders Sital Singh to Repay $6.6 Million
Officials say that, altogether, the scheme managed to pull in about $9.3 million from people all over the U.S.
One court file describes what happened to an 82-year-old woman in St. Louis. Someone pretending to be a computer support worker told her that her accounts were in danger and convinced her to spend about $250,000 on gold bars.
In May 2024, Lambert flew from Gainesville, Florida to St. Louis to grab the gold. Parekh rented a car, drove her to a parking lot near the woman’s house, and then Lambert took a rideshare to finish the collection.
Police stepped in and caught Lambert at the scene. Afterward, Parekh ran off to Pittsburgh when he found out she’d been arrested.
How did Sital Singh run the scam?
Police reported that Singh was employed as a Golden pickup collector in Collierville, Tennessee; Universal City, Texas and Greendale, Wisconsin.
Parekh managed pickups in several places such as Arizona, California, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and Darjee managed pickups in Scottsdale, Arizona; Largo, Florida and La Jolla, California.
Lambert conducted courier operations in various cities in the country such as Scottsdale, Placentia, La Jolla, Largo, Universal City, Hanover, Massachusetts and Erie, Pennsylvania. Stevens was also a courier making pickups in places such as Yuma in Arizona, Long Island in New York, Oxnard in California and Cincinnati in Ohio.
Parekh and Darji were also sentenced to four years in prison besides the sentence given to Singh. Lambert received a two-year sentence whereas Stevens got a sentence of 18 months. The five defendants were all required to restore restitution to victims.
Federal officials reported that Parekh and Darji have been residing illegally in the United States and they will be deported once their respective prison terms are over. Parekh had exceeded the work visa in the country, and Darji had been earlier deported in 2014.
