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NRI Businessman Gets 30 Months for Duty Evasion & Illegal Transfers

NRI Businessman Sentenced to 30 Months in US for Customs
Duty Evasion and Illegal Money Transfers

 

Los Angeles, Jan 23, 2025
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

NRI Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah, 40, a businessman based in Mumbai, India, and Jersey City, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for orchestrating a scheme to evade customs duties and for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna.

Shah, also known as “Monish Doshi Shah,” previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business. U.S. District Judge Esther Salas imposed the sentence and ordered Shah to begin serving his term immediately.

Scheme to Evade Customs Duties

From December 2019 to April 2022, Shah spearheaded a plan to evade approximately $742,500 in customs duties on $13.5 million worth of jewelry imports. Instead of directly shipping jewelry from Turkey and India—countries subject to a 5.5% duty—to the United States, Shah sent the goods to South Korea. There, his co-conspirators altered the shipping labels to falsely claim the items originated in South Korea. The mislabeled shipments were then forwarded to the U.S.
To support the scheme, Shah instructed his customers and shipping companies to create false invoices and packing lists and provide misleading information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Illegal Money-Transmitting Business

Between July 2020 and November 2021, Shah used his jewelry companies—including MKore LLC, MKore USA Inc., and Vruman Corp.—to conduct over $10.3 million in unauthorized financial transactions. Shah and his associates converted cash to wire transfers or checks and used other individuals' companies to facilitate these transactions, sometimes moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day. These operations were conducted without the required registrations with New York, New Jersey, or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Penalties and Additional Sentences

In addition to the 30-month prison term, Judge Salas ordered Shah to pay $742,500 in restitution for the wire fraud scheme and to forfeit $11,126,982.33 for both the wire fraud and money-transmitting offenses. He was also sentenced to a two-year supervised release period following his incarceration.

 

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