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Rajinder Pal Singh, Smuggling Indian Nationals, Seattle WA, 2023
A 49-year-old resident of Elk Grove, California, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Certain Aliens for Profit and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.
Rajinder Pal Singh, aka Jaspal Gill, admits that he took in more than $500,000 as a key member of a smuggling ring bringing hundreds of Indian Nationals across the border from Canada and then to locations in the mid-west and beyond.
According to records filed in the case, as early as July 2018, Singh and his coconspirators used the ride share app Uber to transport people who had illegally crossed the border from Canada to the Seattle area.
Those records detail how trips beginning near the border in the early hours of the morning, would be split between different rides. For example, one Uber trip would be from the border to Sea-Tac airport, and then minutes later the second Uber trip would be from a nearby airport hotel to an address in Lacey, Washington, owned by Singh’s spouse.
All told, from mid-2018 to May 2022, Singh arranged more than 600 trips involving the transportation of Indian Nationals who had been illegally smuggled into the U.S.
Once the non-citizens had been smuggled into the U.S., Singh coordinated with other coconspirators who, using one-way vehicle rentals, would transport these individuals to their ultimate destinations outside Washington State.
The organization’s fee for their smuggling services was as much as $11,000 per person.
Singh and his coconspirators used sophisticated means to launder the organization’s illicit proceeds. For example, on one instance, Singh and his coconspirators arranged for smuggling fees to be sent via Hawala from India to New York.
Once the smuggling fee was received in cash from the New York Hawala, these funds were converted into a check, mailed to a coconspirator in Kentucky, and then were washed through multiple financial accounts.
The smuggling scheme has been underway since at least 2018. It slowed during the pandemic, when Canada was not admitting non-citizens. However as pandemic restrictions were lifted, the smuggling scheme became active again.
In all, the investigation estimates that between July 2018, and April 2022, the 17 Uber accounts tied to this smuggling ring ran up more than $80,000 in charges.
Sentencing before U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour is scheduled for May 9, 2023.
Singh has agreed to forfeit cash and other personal property seized during the search of his residences, as well as a money judgement of $500,000 which represents proceeds he obtained from his criminal scheme.
Both sides have agreed to recommend that Singh serve 45 months in prison. Singh is not legally present in the United States and will likely be deported following his prison term.
The investigation is being led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn A. Warma.
Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Category: Human Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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