Bhaskarray Barot, Wire Fraud, New York 2023

QUEENS, NEW YORK – In a brazen scheme that spanned years, a former procurement manager from Queens defrauded his former employer out of $4.4 million in fake invoice payments.

BHASKARRAY BAROT, 32, a resident of Queens, New York, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme, which ran from July 2018 to August 2022.

According to court filings and statements made in court proceedings, BAROT used his position as a procurement manager at his former employer, a Manhattan-based company, to process fraudulent invoices for payment.

The fake invoices, designed to resemble those received from legitimate vendors, were sent to the company via email, often with the names of employees of the real vendors included to make it appear as though the real vendors were seeking payment.

BAROT then incorporated companies and opened bank accounts in the names of entities listed for payment on the fake invoices, allowing him to collect the payments made by the company.

Over the course of the scheme, BAROT caused payment from the company on approximately 40 fake invoices, totaling $4.4 million.

The scheme was uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and BAROT is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter on September 7, 2023.

BAROT faces a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge.

The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey W. Coyle in charge of the prosecution.

This Office will continue to seek justice for companies that fall victim to corporate theft, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

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