A New York man of Pakistani origin was sentenced Jan. 7 to 80 months for leading one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced last week.
Tahir Lodhi, 56, of Hicksville, N.Y., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The sentence was imposed by Judge Thompson in Trenton federal court Jan. 7.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in Court, Lodhi directed the activities of a number of other conspirators in fabricating more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. They doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards.
Lodhi and others then borrowed or spent as much as they could, based on the phony credit history, but did not repay the debts, causing more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions.
The enormous size and scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required Lodhi and his conspirators to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, Lodhi and his conspirators maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments, and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses of the false identities.
Lodhi and his conspirators also relied upon complicit businesses, including several jewelry stores in the Jersey City, N.J., area, to extract money from the fraudulent cards.
The complicit businesses would allow certain conspirators to conduct sham transactions on the phony cards and would then receive the proceeds from the credit card companies and split them with the other conspirators.
Lodhi’s conspirators also moved millions of dollars through accounts under their control, and wired millions of dollars overseas, including to Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Romania, China and Japan.
Lodhi and his conspirators also relied upon complicit businesses, including several jewelry stores in the Jersey City, N.J., area, to extract money from the fraudulent cards.
Records of the New York and New Jersey Departments of Labor reveal that many of Lodhi’s conspirators had no reported legitimate employment in the last five years. Nonetheless, Lodhi and his conspirators used the proceeds of the criminal enterprise to buy luxury automobiles, electronics, spa treatments, expensive clothing and millions of dollars in gold.
They also stockpiled large sums of cash. Law enforcement discovered approximately $70,000 in cash in the kitchen oven of one of Lodhi’s conspirators.
“Due to the massive scope of the conspiracy, which involved more than 25,000 fraudulent credit cards, loss calculations are ongoing. Final figures may grow beyond the present confirmed losses of more than $200 million,” U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press statement.
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