Apparently, it was the family business.
A grand jury has indicted three members of a Richmond Hill family for defrauding 19 people of West Indian descent out of more than $1.75 million.
According to District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Shane Ramsundar, 50, his wife, Gomatee Ramsundar, 46, and their daughter, Shantal Ramsundar, 23, over a nearly six-year period, promised to assist their alleged victims in obtaining “federally seized” properties in Florida and Queens at cheap prices or to assist them in gaining legal status in the U.S.
In carrying out their scheme, the family allegedly claimed the father was an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent on loan to the FBI or JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force) and a devoutly religious Pandit.
“In this particular case, many of their immigrant victims are alleged to have implicitly trusted the defendants, who were West Indian, like themselves, lived in the community and went to area Hindu temples and local neighborhood hangouts,” said Brown.
“As a result, these victims are alleged to have put their faith and their finances in the hands of the defendants who, in turn, allegedly betrayed them by ripping them off and turning their American Dream into the ‘American Nightmare.’ They now face an uncertain future.”
The Ramsundars were arraigned on Thursday, March 18 on a 34-count indictment variously charging them with the crimes of first- and second-degree grand larceny, first- and second-degree money laundering, first-degree criminal impersonation, first-degree scheme to defraud and unlawful sale or possession of an air pistol. If convicted, the defendants each face up to 25 years in prison.
According to the charges, the three Ramsundars held Shane out to be a federal agent – complete with a real-looking gun, a badge and false ID card – and a deeply religious Pandit, who could obtain cheap governmentally seized real estate properties in Florida and the Ozone Park/Richmond Hill/Jamaica areas.
In particular, the two elder Ramsundars allegedly claimed that the government allowed their special agents first option to buy the properties seized from tax evaders and drug dealers prior to their public auction.
Shane then allegedly told his victims that he would purchase properties, obtain mortgages for them with his special government connections, and then transfer the deeds over to them and they could live in the residences or re-sell them at great profit.
Checks were allegedly laundered through 11 different bank accounts – eight belonging to Shantal Ramsundar and three belonging to the family’s racecar repair company, Baba Boost Racing, Inc., of Long Island City, of which Shantal is the president and Gomatee is the manager.
In total, the Ramsundars allegedly received a total of more than $1.5 million from 10 victims.
It is further alleged that in carrying out the immigration portion of their scheme, Shane again posed as an ICE/FBI agent and convinced victims that he could use his insider access to get people green cards, have them removed from deportation lists and even get them off “terrorist watch lists” in exchange for sums of money.
Gomatee allegedly aided her husband by convincing some of the victims that he could obtain the necessary immigration documents and was present when some of the victims turned over their money.
Shantal allegedly aided in the scheme by cashing checks and laundering substantial amounts of the proceeds through bank accounts in her name. In total, the Ramsundars allegedly received more than $250,000 from 12 victims, some of whom were also allegedly victimized in the defendants’ real estate scheme.
Court-authorized search warrants executed at the family’s residence and storage locker resulted in the recovery of contracts and five realistic looking air guns.
