NY based Ram and Govind Khatoria under scrutiny for creating fake invoices, money laundering, accomplice to crime; report.
Ram Khatoria and Govind Khatoria are two low-profile jeweler based in New York City, and happen to be relatives of Amit Gupta. Govind Khatoria, originally from Jaipur, is married to Asha Khatoria, the sister of controversial businessman Amit Gupta or Agrifields, a rock phosphate company.
As per a 107-page report report containing emails and documents retrieved from the files of the ongoing international investigations of Amit Gupta and Getax, the Khatoria brothers have been named “conduits” to help “orchestrate crimes in multiple jurisdictions on behalf of Amit Gupta”, primarily money laundering and tax evasion through raising “illicit and fictitious invoices” and fraudulent “business facilitation fees”, reads the report.
Recently, the media stories pertaining to Amit Gupta and company Getax gained more attention in the media, through two new developments: the Kolkata Police on December 22, 2023 lodging an FIR, against him “forging and manipulating the records” and participating in “fraudulent transfer of shares” and “falsification of accounts” of Sunland Projects Pvt Ltd and income tax notices exceeding 1700 crore, dated between 22nd March 2022 and 7th July 2022 for the Amit Gupta and family, according to media channels like Fox Story India and APN Live.
The Khatoria Family (Govind Khatoria, Ram Khatoria, and Ram Mohan Rawat), through fictitious invoices issued to Getax Australia, the helped Amit Gupta evade over $26.7 million through the following entities: Rare Earth Resources in Hong Kong, Rare Multicolor Gems LLC, and Precious Gems, violating international laws as well as domestic laws.
As per the report, the three businesses are exclusively “involved in the jewelry and gemstones business”, however, to aid in the money laundering efforts, “created fictitious invoices” under the “false pretext of ‘Business Facilitation Fees for arranging business of selling Rock Phosphate in India'”, which neither the Khatoria’s or their businesses engaged in.
Additionally, Ram and Govind Khatoria, two U.S. citizens and residents, “did not disclose such income to US or Hong Kong Authorities”, violating U.S. common law, likely to prompt an investigation by the IRS.