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Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah, a.k.a. Monish Doshi Shah, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and operating and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, US Attorney Phillip Sellinger said.
From December 2019 through April 2022, Shah engaged in a scheme to evade duties for shipments of jewelry from Turkey and India to the U.S., Sellinger said. Shah would ship and/or instruct his conspirators to ship goods from Turkey or India – which would have been subject to an approximately 5.5 percent duty if shipped directly to the U.S. – to one of Shah’s companies in South Korea, Sellinger said.
Shah’s conspirators in South Korea would change the labels on the jewelry to state that they were from South Korea instead of Turkey or India, and then ship them to Shah or his customers in the YS, thereby unlawfully evading the duty, Sellinger said.
Shah also instructed his customers to make fake invoices and packing lists to make it look like his South Korean companies were actually ordering jewelry from Turkey or India, Sellinger said. Shah instructed a third-party shipping company to provide false information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) concerning the origin of the jewelry. During the scheme, Shah shipped approximately $13.5 million of jewelry from South Korea to the United States without paying the appropriate duty, Sellinger said.
From July 2020 through November 2021, Shah owned and/or operated numerous jewelry companies in the Diamond District and used these entities to conduct more than $10.3 million in illegal financial transactions for customers, including converting cash to checks or wire transfers, Sellinger said. Shah would also collect cash from customers and use other individuals’ jewelry companies to convert the cash into wires or checks, Sellinger said At times, Shah and other members of the money transmitting business moved hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day, Sellinger said. In exchange for their services, Shah or other members of the money transmitting business charged a fee, Sellinger said.
As part of his plea agreement, Shah agreed to pay restitution to CBP in the amount of $742,500 for the wire fraud scheme and forfeiture in the amount of $11.13 million for the wire fraud and unlicensed money transmitting schemes, Sellinger said.
Shah faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in January.
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