An Indian jeweler, Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah, has been indicted in the United States for allegedly evading customs duties on millions of dollars worth of jewelry imports and operating unlicensed money-transferring businesses.
Shah, based in both Mumbai and New Jersey, was arrested over the weekend and appeared before a federal judge in Newark on February 26. Shah, also known as “Monish Doshi Shah,” has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
According to documents, Shah engaged in a scheme from January 2015 to September 2023 to evade duties on jewelry shipments from Turkey and India to the US.
Indian American Jeweller (Credits: News9live)
The scheme involved shipping goods from Turkey or India, which would have been subject to a 5.5 percent duty if shipped directly to the US, to one of Shah’s companies in South Korea.
Shah’s conspirators in South Korea would then change the labels on the jewelry to indicate that they were from South Korea and ship them to Shah or his customers in the US, evading the duty.
In addition to the duty evasion scheme, Shah allegedly operated numerous jewelry companies in New York City’s Diamond District from July 2020 to November 2021, including MKore LLC, MKore USA Inc., and Vruman Corp.
He used these entities to conduct illegal financial transactions, including converting cash to checks or wire transfers. Shah and his conspirators allegedly moved more than a million dollars of money in a single day at times, charging a fee for their services.
Prosecutors allege that none of Shah’s or his conspirators’ companies were registered as money-transmitting businesses with New York, New Jersey, or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Shah was released on a $100,000 bond with home detention and location monitoring.
