Queens Man Arrested For Defrauding Former Employer Of $4.4 Million In Fake Invoice Scheme

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the arrest of BHASKARRAY BAROT for engaging in a years-long scheme to defraud his former employer out of approximately $4.4 million.  BAROT was arrested this morning in Queens, New York, on a criminal Complaint and was presented before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of New York. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, over the course of years, Barot created fraudulent invoices and processed them for payment at the Manhattan-based company where he used to work as a procurement manager.  Barot designed the invoices to closely resemble the invoices that the company received from real vendors and other entities owed payment from the company.  But the fraudulent invoices differed in a crucial way:  they directed payment into Barot’s pocket.  Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will seek justice for companies that fall victim to corporate theft.”

FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said: “As the charges today allege, Barot operated a years-long deception, scamming his employer out of millions of dollars through bogus invoices.  Duplicitous schemes like this bring undue harm to the greater financial community.  The FBI will continue to investigate complex financial crimes and hold the transgressors accountable in the criminal justice system.”

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint, which was unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]

From at least in or about July 2018, up to and including at least August 2022, BAROT engaged in a scheme to defraud his former employer (the “Company”) of approximately $4.4 million through fake invoices designed to resemble those received from legitimate vendors of the Company.  BAROT used his position as a procurement manager at the Company to process the fraudulent invoices for payment.  When doing so, he often affixed the fake invoices to email messages that he, in some cases, sent in the names of employees of the Company’s real vendors so that it would appear as though the real vendors were seeking payment on the fake invoices.   

The fake invoices, however, stated that payment should be made to entities with names that often differed slightly from those of the real vendor companies.  BAROT then incorporated companies and opened bank accounts in the names of some of the entities listed for payment on the fake invoices so that he could collect the payments that the Company made on the fake invoices.

BAROT repeated these fraudulent tactics with more than a dozen fictitious entities and caused payment to be made by the Company on approximately 40 fake invoices, totaling approximately $4.4 million.

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BAROT, 32, of Queens, New York, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

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

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.