Call-Center Scammer Loses $9m Appeal in Stunning Moment of Poetic Justice

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A call-center scammer has lost his appeal to overturn a $9m fine - after a court pointed out the crook had specifically waived the right to appeal when he pleaded guilty.

Viraj Patel was part of a large India-based criminal enterprise that conned tens of thousands of Americans out of hundreds of millions of dollars: the swindlers would cold-call citizens and pose as US government officials demanding payment for unpaid taxes.

The unlucky victims were threatened with fines, arrests, or deportation if they didn't cough up: one 85-year-old woman ended up paying the fraudsters $12,300 after she was threatened with a stretch behind bars for phony tax violations. More than 60 suspect con men were charged [PDF] with conspiracy to commit identity theft, false impersonation of an officer of the United States, wire fraud, and money laundering.

In 2018, Patel, then a 33-year-old loser living in California, reached a deal with prosecutors: in exchange for pleading guilty and avoiding a lengthy trial, he would spend up to 165 months, or about 14 years, in the clink followed by three years of supervised release, plus receive a court order kicking him out of America when his punishment is over - and, to top it all off, an $8.97m fine.

He admitted his crimes, specifically, one count of money laundering - since he is based the US, his job in the caper was to launder roughly $4m to $9m of victims' cash - and was sentenced.

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