Richmonder gets 57 months for role in wire fraud scam

An Indian national and Virginia resident on Tuesday was sentenced to 57 months in prison for participating in a wire fraud scheme in which dozens of victims were scammed out of a total exceeding $500,000, according to court records.

In an October 2020 indictment, officials said <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/virginia-man-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-commit-wire-fraud" target="_blank">Rishi Budhadev</a>, 38, who lived in Richmond and Fredericksburg during extended visits to the U.S., served as a "money mule" between October and December 2015. The role of a money mule is to receive fraudulently induced money transfers and bank wires and then forward the funds to the fraudsters, whose identities remain concealed.

Officials said that, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/indian-national-sentenced-57-months-defrauding-scam-victims">in the scheme in which Budhadev was a part</a>, India-based fraudsters would persuade victims to wire or transfer funds to Budhadev and other money mules via MoneyGram and Western Union, and the money mules would then pass on the funds. In exchange for undisclosed sums, Budhadev collected at least 48 money transfers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in a three-month period, according to court records.

In one case, Budhadev received funds that had been transferred by a 72-year-old Pennsylvania widow who was "told by a person impersonating a U.S. government agent that she qualified for a federal grant because of her late husband's military service," the indictment states. The widow sent $456 to Budhadev, who was in Richmond, in order to "receive the benefits."

Officials said Budhadev also collected funds that resulted from multiple investment scams, romance scams, person-in-need scams, internet purchase scams, IRS tax scams and loan scams. The indictment alleges that Budhadev frequented Walmart locations around Richmond, at one point collecting 38 different MoneyGram transfers worth over $34,000 at five different Walmarts on a single day in December 2015.

Budhadev was arrested in Alexandria in December 2020, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in October 2022 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Officials said Budhadev admitted that he had "believed the funds being transmitted to him had very likely been obtained through fraud," but that he had "consciously us(ed) deliberate efforts to avoid confirming the fraudulent nature of these transactions."

Budhadev also admitted to using some of the proceeds to purchase iPhones, which he delivered to a co-conspirator in India.

In addition to his prison sentence, Budhadev was ordered to pay over $62,000 in restitution and faces potential deportation from the U.S.

He could not immediately be reached for comment.

<!--BC Bold--><strong>Samuel B. Parker</strong><!--p:BC TAG Body Copy Tagline--> (804) 649-6462<!--p:BC TAG Body Copy Tagline-->sparker@timesdispatch.com<!--p:BC TAG Body Copy Tagline-->