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Queens Family Sentenced to 418 Years in Prison For $1.8 Million Immigration Scam
By Evette D. Champion
In Queens, New York, a Trinidadian family was sentenced to serve a combined prison sentence of 418 years. What could they have possibly done to deserve such a severe sentence? The family was involved in a plot that scammed about 19 Caribbean immigrants out of close to $1.8 million—which was all of the immigrant’s life savings. The criminals pretended to help the immigrants to avoid deportation.
Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder called the family “the most despicable gang of criminals to ever sit in front of me.” The family consisted of Shane Ramsundar, 52, sentenced to 235 years, his wife, Gomatee, 48, sentenced to 153 years, and their daughter, Shantal, 23, sentenced to 30 years in prison. Each of the offenders was found guilty of grand larceny and other related charges in November. They were also charged with spending the ill-gotten money on cars and frivolous shopping sprees.
According to The New York Daily News, the judge told them:
“You and I know that if you did this fraud and paraded and strutted around in front of your own people, in your own country, you probably would have all been hacked to death, but not in this country. Now it’s your time to hear your return on your investment for your crime.”
Mr. Ramsundar resided in the Richmond Hill area of Queens. Allegedly, he pretended to be a federal agent who would approach other immigrants whose names he got off of the “terror watch lists or stall the wheels of deportation with precious green cards,” according to the NY Daily News.
Most of the victims lived in Queens, and one particular victim was a gentleman with multiple sclerosis. The Ransundar family cheated him out of $43,000 when they told him he was going to be deported.
Not only did the family promise the Caribbean immigrants green cards, the father said he could get the victims “dirt cheap prices” on homes that were confiscated by the government in Florida and in Queens.
Immigrant cases aren’t easy to resolve, and those who are facing deportation need to contact someone who can help them with the process. A lawyer whose sole focus on immigration can help immigrants manage their forms and meetings. Those who need help can also seek out the help of someone who is authorized by the government to do so; an “accredited representative.”
If you or someone you know is an immigrant, you can learn more about how to avoid deportation, the scams that target immigrants, and what you can do, by going to the Consumer.gov website.
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