(MENAFN- Live Mint) A Mumbai man who operated multiple jewellery firms in the United States has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for evading customs duty on jewellery imports and running unlicensed money transmitting business, reported PTI on Friday. Apart from more than two years of jail term, he will remain in supervised release for two years after completion of his prison sentence.

Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah (4O) used to operate multiple firms in New York, he was found guilty of evading custms duty on jewellery items worth more than USD 13.5 million (equal to ₹116.55 crore).

Earlier, he pleaded guilty before US District Judge Esther Salas to a two-count information, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also charged for operating and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to acting US Attorney Vikas Khanna.

Apart from the prison term, the judge has also asked for repayment from the guilty in the amount of USD 742,500 for the wire fraud scheme and forfeiture of USD 11,126,982.33 for the wire fraud and unlicensed money transmitting schemes.

Indian an evaded duties for shipments from Turkey and India to US between 2019-22

As per the court documents, Shah used to change the course of his jewellery items' shipments to Turkey and India to evade customs duty between December 2019 to around April 2022.

He would instruct his co-conspirators to ship goods from Turkey or India to his company located in South Korea. According to PTI, he would have been subject to an approximately 5.5 per cent duty if those items were shipped directly from to the US from India or Turkey.

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