Washington, DC: An Indian man, living in the US illegally, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for scamming the elderly out of more than USD 6 million.
Though Atharva Shailesh Sathawane (23) was sentenced in January, the case has now been taken up by MAGA commentators as their anti-India sentiment grows louder over incidents of visa abuse and other fraud instances, as reported by timesnow.in.
“An Indian illegal brought in under Biden has just been sentenced to 18 YEARS in prison for stealing $15 MILLION from elderly victims. They keep telling us these people come for a better life. BS. In reality, they come to steal from grandma,” right-wing commentator Nick Sorter wrote on X,
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Sathawane was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Sathawane reached the US on a student visa but overstayed it and lost his legal status in the US. He then became a courier in an international fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims who were convinced to liquidate their retirement accounts to obtain cash, gold, or both.
Prosecutors claimed that it was Sathawane’s job to visit each victim, take the cash or gold, then deliver it to his co-conspirators. According to court documents, some of his co-conspirators were operating from India.
Though he mainly operated in Florida, the 23-year-old also travelled to Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York as and when required.
The DOJ press release states that Sathawane personally took and laundered $ 6,615,484.66 in cash and gold from the elderly victims. He tried to pick up another $ 1,363,395.98 in gold from two elderly victims.
His efforts were thwarted due to the intervention of a concerned friend of the victim in the first instance. He was arrested during his second attempt.
“Mr. Sathawane preyed on his victims’ trust and fear, convincing them to turn over their life savings in gold. Unfortunately, this is a growing trend. In Florida alone, victims lost more than 33 million dollars last year just to gold bar scams. This sentencing is just one step toward justice for the victims in this scheme and the FBI’s efforts to stop this from happening over and over again,” FBI Jacksonville special agent-in-charge Jason Carley said.
He was convicted in November 2025, while Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner prosecuted the case.
