Two former Minneapolis medical services company executives have been given prison terms for orchestrating a scheme that netted them millions of dollars.
Minneapolis medical execs who became romantic ‘soulmates’ sentenced in scheme that netted millions
Both were given prison terms, ordered to pay the money back to their victims.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 17, 2024 at 8:46PM
Khemwattie Singh, 53, was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to 2¼ years in prison. Co-conspirator Neeraj Chepuri, 55, was sentenced on Tuesday to 1¾ years in prison. Both were in connection with their operation of Global Medical Services, which is now out of business.
Singh, who was company CEO, was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $4 million. Chepuri, who was chief medical officer, has a $3.25 million restitution bill.
According to its website, Global Medical Services was based in downtown Minneapolis and had offices in London and the Middle East. It said its business mission was to provide “accessible healthcare solutions and services across the globe.”
Ahead of sentencing, attorneys for both defendants asked the court to spare their clients from prison and give them probationary sentences.
Singh’s attorney said she “became lost in the successful corporate lifestyle” of a CEO and said her only asset is a car.
The attorney for Chepuri noted in his presentence filing that his client became “blind to his morals [and] full of the excitement and the love of soulmates” during his romantic relationship with Singh.
According to court documents:
Between June and October 2018, Singh, Chepuri and others entered into factoring contracts with MD Capital Solutions, a Florida-based investment company, to purchase the accounts receivable of Global Medical Services and Minnesota International Medicine for more than $2.6 million.
Factoring is a form of short-term financing in which a business sells its accounts receivable to a third party at a discount.
Singh and Chepuri defrauded MD Capital Solutions by failing to pay over the receivables as they were collected and falsely represented to MD Capital Solutions that no funds had been received. Instead, they pocketed the money and wired more than $5 million overseas to bank accounts in Morocco and shell companies.
In September 2019, MD Capital Solutions sued Global Medical Services in state court in Minnesota and in Florida. By the end of 2019, Global Medical Services shut down and no longer had any employees on its payroll.
Despite the company being shuttered, Singh submitted in April 2020 an application for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID relief funds in the name of Global Medical Services, seeking more than $383,000. Singh stated on the application that the average monthly payroll was $153,363 and that the company had about 40 employees.
This allowed her to receive about $296,800 in PPP funds. She transferred $116,600 to her personal bank account and used the money for a home loan, credit card payments and other personal expenses.
A man in his 20s was killed near the intersection of 1st Avenue S. and East 19th Street in the Stevens Square neighborhood, police say.
