Kishan Rajeshkumar Patel, Student Visa Holder Jailed for Money Laundering in U.S.
Los Angeles/Jun 18, 2025
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh
Kishan Rajeshkumar Patel, 20, an Indian national living in the US on a student visa, has been sentenced to 63 months in prison by a federal court in Austin after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court documents, Patel was involved in a scam that took place from July to August 2024, targeting at least 25 elderly Americans. Along with co-conspirators, Patel used online phishing techniques and impersonated US government officials to extort cash and gold, resulting in a loss of approximately $2.7 million.
Police arrested Patel on August 24, 2024, in Granite Shoals, Texas, after he picked up a box suspected of containing $130,000. He was later transferred to federal custody, where he pleaded guilty on March 18.
US Attorney Justin Simmons insisted that Patel exploited his visa and targeted vulnerable seniors. He said: “He participated in an international fraud scheme ... by impersonating government officials to defraud vulnerable American citizens of millions of dollars.”
Aaron Tapp, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office, echoed this message, saying that the FBI “prioritizes and aggressively pursues [those] who prey on our elderly population.”
Patel’s co-defendant, Dhruv Rajeshbhai Mangukia, has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
In a related case, another Indian student in the US, Moinuddin Mohammed, was previously sentenced to eight years in prison for a similar fraud scheme targeting US senior citizens.
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