FLORIDA – A Florida man has been charged with operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme through a trucking company he owns.
Sanjay Singh, 43, of Coral Springs, has been charged in South Florida federal court with orchestrating a $100 million investment fraud (Ponzi) scheme run through his over-the-road trucking company, Royal Bengal Logistics, Inc. (“RBL”).
The indictment alleges that Singh violated federal laws criminalizing conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds.
According to the indictment, Singh, RBL’s founder and president, organized and ran a substantial Ponzi scheme with co-conspirators. The conspiracy allegedly began in January 2020 and was ongoing at the time of his arrest.
Singh and his co-conspirators held RBL out to potential investors as a thriving and successful trucking business, all while RBL’s actual trucking business lost money, according to the indictment. In the process, Singh and his co-conspirators reportedly made material misrepresentations and material omissions about the riskiness of investing in RBL, the profitability of RBL’s trucking operations, how RBL would pay its investors, and how RBL would use investor funds, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO).
Through these material misrepresentations and omissions, Singh and his co-conspirators are said to have raised over $100 million from investors, which Singh and his co-conspirators then used in part to pay existing investors promised returns, said the USAO.
The indictment also alleges that Singh misappropriated millions of dollars of investor funds to renovate his home, make mortgage payments, pay for personal expenses, and trade stocks on margin.
If convicted of all charges in the indictment, Singh faces a maximum penalty of 150 years’ imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Todd A. Damiani of the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (“DOT-OIG”), Southern Region; and Russell Weigel III, Commissioner, Florida Office of Financial Regulation (“OFR”), made the announcement.
U.S. Attorney Lapointe commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, DOT-OIG, and OFR in this matter. He thanked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Miami Regional Office for their assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kiran N. Bhat is prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marx Calderon is handling asset forfeiture.
An indictment contains mere allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
If you invested in RBL, are owed money by RBL, or had interactions with anyone at RBL about a potential investment, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/rblinvestors to provide relevant information to the FBI. You can also visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/rblinvestors-french to provide information in Haitian French, or https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/rblinvestors-haitian-creole to provide information in Haitian Creole.
