South Florida trucking company owner gets long prison term for Ponzi scheme

A South Florida trucking executive convicted in November on eight counts in a Ponzi scheme fraud totaling well over $100 million was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison. 

The fraud began in January 2020 and was ongoing when Singh was indicted in June 2023. He ultimately was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Jurors only deliberated an hour before convicting Singh at his trial in November, according to the Miami Herald. The same article said Singh had built Royal Bengal Logistics up to a company with 200 trucks, quoting one of his public defenders.

The sentencing memorandum submitted by the Justice Department just days before the sentencing paints a picture of Singh as a man who was using Royal Bengal Logistics for illicit personal gain.

According to the memo, Singh raised $158 million for Royal Bengal Logistics but used much of that for his own use. The total losses from Singh’s activities were about $100 million, the Justice Department said.

“Singh pillaged Royal Bengal Logistics’ bank accounts and the investors’ funds therein gambling it away in the stock market,” the memo said. “Singh exposed approximately $40 million dollars in investor funds to his amateur gambling on mostly meme stocks, ultimately losing over $12 million of investor funds.”

His activities went on for four years, according to the Justice Department, “as he watched Royal Bengal Logistics slip further and further into debt, all the while lying to investors about the profitability of the business. During this time, Singh also pitched his investors new investment opportunities and businesses.”

When Singh realized that the Ponzi scheme was beginning to fail, “he attempted to shift ownership and responsibility of the company to his general counsel, Elizabeth Hueber, so that she could ultimately be left to steer the sinking ship,” the memo said.

The number of victims of Singh’s activities totaled more than 2,000, according to the Justice Department. The victims were not random, the memo said, with “a large majority of them being working class Haitian south Florida residents.”

The Justice Department sought a sentence of 25 years.

While the U.S attorney for the Southern District of Florida as of publication time had not issued a news release on the sentencing of Sanjay Singh of Royal Bengal Logistics, and the PACER file in the case did not have an active hyperlink to information on the sentencing, at least two sources have reported that Singh received that duration for his convictions: Law360 and the law firm of Tripp Scott. Paul Lopez of that South Florida firm is a receiver in the case, responsible for seeking to compensate victims of the Ponzi scheme from Singh’s assets.

The pre-sentencing memo submitted by Singh’s attorneys noted he was a first-time, nonviolent offender. It says little about the charges that led to his indictment, conviction and sentencing.

The bulk of the pre-sentencing memo submitted by Singh’s attorneys focuses on the federal guidelines for sentencing. 

It says the guidelines suggested by the federal government would be a “gross miscarriage of justice” and says Singh has a “very low risk of reoffending.” That low risk is a function, the memo says, of “the damage done to Singh’s reputation at his age, both at the time of sentencing and at the likely time of his release.” He is described in the memo as “nearly” 46.

“Mr. Singh has been personally and financially devastated as a result of his conduct,” the memo said. “There is no reason to believe that a sentence within the advisory guideline range is necessary to prevent him from committing further crimes.”

In an impact statement filed recently with the court – with the name of the victim redacted – a victim addressed Singh directly by saying “because of your greed and inhumane actions, I am entering the workforce again at the age of 66 years to meet several financial obligations as well as support our extended families.”

“For my wife and I, our families have had to witness our pain, and have done their very best to support us through countless difficult days and adjust to the changes in our personality, financial hardship and daily life,” the author of the impact statement said.

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