Trucking company owner indicted for $100M Ponzi scheme

The owner of a Florida trucking company has been indicted on charges related to a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

On June 14, Sanjay Singh was indicted on eight counts, including wire fraud, in a Southern District of Florida federal court. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, Singh misappropriated millions of dollars of investor funds for personal gain. Singh owned Coral Springs, Fla.-based Royal Bengal Logistics.

Singh allegedly enriched himself unlawfully by causing individuals and corporations to invest in Royal Bengal Logistics based on materially false and fraudulent statements and concealment and omission of material facts, according to the indictment. Also, Singh allegedly used investor funds to make payments to earlier investors for his personal use and benefit.

Along with co-conspirators, Singh offered investors the opportunity to invest in Royal Bengal Logistics’ truck program as part of the Ponzi scheme.

The company contracted to use investor funds to purchase and operate trucks for investors while guaranteeing the investment principal and monthly returns typically exceeding 200%. According to the indictment, Singh also offered investors separate opportunities to make investments that supported the company’s operations or its trailer manufacturing program. These other types of investments would yield guaranteed returns ranging from 20% to 40%.

Investors were initially allowed to send money and receive promised returns in their own names. However, Singh began requesting investors do so through companies that the investors had already incorporated. That allowed Singh to conceal the source and nature of the funds going in and out of bank accounts held in Royal Bengal Logistics’ name.

“(Royal Bengal Logistics) did not earn sufficient revenue from its trucking business to cover the costs of its operations, let alone the obligations to investors incurred through the investment programs,” the indictment states. “As a result, Singh and his co-conspirators used new investor funds to pay existing investors promised returns, as is typical in a Ponzi scheme.”

Singh allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars of investor funds to pay for personal expenses, including mortgage payments on his home and home renovations, funding multiple brokerage accounts and to provide collateral for stock trades on margin. LL