(Image source from: Hindustan Times)

Two Indian origin men among three people charged in United States for allegedly managing a $200 million scheme to swindle investors and others of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Parmjit Paul, 48, Ravi Chivukula, 44, and Sotirios Sam Zaharis, 51, from New Jersey are charged with secret plan to commit securities fraud. The three men were formerly CEO, CFO and an Executive Director at a publicly traded health care services company.

According to complaints from May 2015 through September 2017, the three suspects orchestrated an elaborated scheme to defraud a private investment firm and others of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with funding of a transaction to take private a company traded publicly on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.

The scheme allegedly utilized fraud methods to grossly expand the value of company and trick others into believing that it was worth more than its actualized value.

The complaint alleges that to project a positive picture of company’s financial wealth, the three men allegedly sought to raise tens of millions of dollars in public markets.

The U.S. filed a civil complaint against Parmar, Zharis and Chivukula.

By Sowmya Sangam