Florida Man Returns to Federal Prison for N95 Mask Scheme
A Florida man who participated in a scheme to defraud a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, company in 2020 has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.
Saransh ‘Sam’ Sharma, age 44, from Wellington, Florida, originally from Muscat, Oman, received the prison term after a December 14, 2023, guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.
Sharma admitted to falsely representing to a Cedar Rapids company that a Florida limited liability company had successfully transacted on 30 million masks in the prior two months when, in truth, the Florida company had not done so.
The Cedar Rapids company wired over $3 million to a Florida lawyer’s bank account expecting to receive one million N95 masks, but the company never received them.
The United States later filed a civil fraud action and recovered approximately $2.4 million of the Cedar Rapids company’s moneys.
Sharma was previously sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment in 2018 for his role in a different scheme and was released on October 9, 2020. He was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.
Sharma was ordered to make $390,454.57 in restitution to the victims of the N95 mask scheme and must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General.
Related Federal Cases
- Adrianne Marta Frazer, Tax Refund Fraud, Phoenix AZ, 2023 · Massachusetts
- Henry Dorvil, Identity Theft and Tax Fraud, Miami FL, 2023 · Iowa
- Shane McFall, Mail Fraud, Pennsylvania 2018 · Pennsylvania
- Rodney Cook, Possession of Firearm by Illegal Drug User, Iowa 2020 · Washington
- Billy Thorne, Firearm Possession, Iowa 2024 · Puerto Rico
Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
US NewsUS NewsUS NewsUS News