Indian-American, 3 others sentenced for fraud in Florida

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An Indian-American and two other employees of Port Everglades, Florida, as well as a business owner, were sentenced to prison for engaging in a fraud scheme.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Ariana Fajardo Orshan announced that Port Everglades employees, Rajindra Lallharry, 60, of Coral Springs, Florida, William Woessner, 68, of Margate, Florida, David Moore, 43, of Pompano Beach, Florida, as well as business owner Bryan Zascavage, 57, of Pompano, Florida, were sentenced to prison Oct. 29, 2019, for their involvement in a fraud scheme relating to programs receiving federal funds.

According to the court record and the factual statements supporting the defendants’ guilty pleas, Lallharry,  Woessner, and Moore, were issued purchase cards or P-cards, which were to be used to buy business related goods and services for Port Everglades. Instead, they perpetrated schemes to illegally profit from the use of the cards.

Lallharry’s family owned five separate companies. Lallharry would utilize his P-card to make direct payments to each of the family-owned companies for goods to allegedly be utilized by the Port. The goods were not delivered to the Port. The funds were used by Lallharry and his family to pay personal expenses, including approximately $101,790.85 to pay monthly expenses due the Chapter 13 trustee overseeing Lallharry’s bankruptcy.

Lallharry was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to 21 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $206,297.74 in restitution. After his sentencing, Lallharry was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving his sentence of imprisonment.

Other accused involved in similar transactions and crimes were sentenced accordingly. Woessner was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman to 21 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $153,685.88 in restitution; Zascavage was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ursula M. Ungaro to 12 months and 1 day in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $205,706.90 in restitution. (Moore was sentenced by Judge Ungaro to 3 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $34,768.86 in restitution.