Indian-American jeweler charged in multi-million dollar trade fraud

An Indian jeweler has been charged with conducting unregistered money transmission enterprises and unlawfully avoiding customs fees on jewelry imports worth millions of dollars into the United States, according to a US attorney.

Based in both Mumbai and New Jersey, 39-year-old Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah made an appearance before US Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in the Newark federal court on February 26 after being taken into custody over the weekend.

One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of operating, assisting, and abetting the operation of an unregistered money transmission company are the charges against him in the complaint.

Documents show that Shah participated in a conspiracy to avoid paying tariffs on jewelry shipments from Turkey and India to the US between January 2015 and September 2023.

He would send, or give his accomplices instructions to ship, products to one of Shah’s companies in South Korea from Turkey or India, which would have been subject to a tariff of about 5.5% if delivered directly to the US.

In order to illegally avoid paying duty, federal prosecutors claimed that Shah’s accomplices in South Korea would rename the jewelry to appear as though it originated in South Korea rather than Turkey or India. They would then ship the jewelry to Shah or his clients in the US.

In order to create the impression that Shah’s South Korean enterprises were truly acquiring jewelry from Turkey or India, he would also create fictitious invoices and packing lists and give his customers instructions to create them.

In order to illegally avoid paying duty, federal prosecutors claimed that Shah’s accomplices in South Korea would rename the jewelry to appear as though it originated in South Korea rather than Turkey or India. They would then ship the jewelry to Shah or his clients in the US.
In order to create the impression that Shah’s South Korean enterprises were truly acquiring jewelry from Turkey or India, he would also create fictitious invoices and packing lists and give his customers instructions to create them.

Prosecutors claimed that Shah transported jewelry valued at millions of dollars from South Korea to the US during the scam.

According to the report, Shah ran a number of alleged jewelry businesses in New York City’s Diamond District between July 2020 and November 2021, including MKore LLC (MKore), MKore USA Inc. (MKore USA), and Vruman Corp (Vruman).

He used these entities to conduct millions of dollars in illegal financial transactions for customers, including converting cash to checks or wire transfers, the documents said.

Shah would also collect cash from customers and use conspirators’ jewellery companies, also located in the Diamond District, to convert the cash into wires or checks.

Shah, also known as “Monish Doshi Shah,” was freed on a $100,000 bail subject to GPS tracking and house imprisonment.

(With agency inputs)