| As One Alleged Computer
Fraudster Barred From Smartphone In His Taxi
Another Is Detained Amid Airbnb Questions
By Matthew
Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 24 – Two members of a trio
charged with elder fraud were
presented late on May 23 with
one released on bond and the
other ordered detained by U.S.
District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate Judge
Debra Freeman.
While
the charges involve
defrauding elderly customers
with unneeded
computer repairs,
one of the
defendants is
a 54-year old
taxi driver
from Astoria, Queens
named Jas Pal.
Judge Freeman released
him on
$150,000 bond
and the
condition that he
not use an
internet-enabled
smartphone but
rather
"satellite"
technology for
GPS for his
cab driving.
Pal's
co-defendant who
is still
detained is Gunjit
Malhotra,
who was
described as a
resident of
Ghaziabad,
India. That
was one of the
problems he
faced,
showing Judge
Freeman where
he would stay
in New York in
light of the
indictment. Malhotra
has in the
past stayed
with Jas Pal
in Astoria but
has paid Pal for
as, as
an Airbnb.
Judge
Freeman
noted several
times
that many
Airbnb's
are not
long term. Malhotra's
Federal
Defenders
lawyer, the
ever active
Sabrina
Sabrina P.
Shroff, was
contacting
Malhotra's
family members
in India
trying to find
a friend in
New York he
would stay
with.
Judge
Freeman
said she
wasn't
comfortable
with the
arrangment,
nor the tenor
of the bond
argument
before her. Sabrina
Shroff sparred with
the Assistant
U.S. Attorney
about his
right to copy Malhotra's
passport.
Judge Freeman told
the government not
to copy the
passport, but
continued
detention for
Malhotra (unlike,
earlier
in the day,
banker accused
of bribery Stephen
Calk).
Of this alleged
scheme, U.S.
Attorney
Geoffrey S.
Berman
said:
“As alleged,
these
defendants
devised a
sophisticated
scheme that
involved
accessing
victims’
computers to
charge them
for
unnecessary
repairs or
repair
services they
never
performed.
By targeting
the elderly,
the defendants
took advantage
of some of our
society’s must
vulnerable
members, and
they now face
criminal
consequences
for their
alleged
predatory
conduct.” Ryan
B. Finkel of his
Office is
in charge of
the
prosecution.
Judge Freeman
set a
continued bond
hearing for
May 30 at 4 pm
in her day to
day courtroom
17A. Inner
City Press
will be there. The case is
USA v.
Malhotra, et
al., 19-mj-4946
(Freeman).
***
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