Priya Bhambi, a former senior level employee in the technology operations group of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, recently pled guilty to engaging in a scheme to defraud the company of at least $2.3 million. Bhambi pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. An alleged co-conspirator – who was not an employee of Takeda – was also charged in the same indictment as Bhambi.
From roughly January 2022 to October 2022, Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator orchestrated and executed a scheme to defraud Takeda out of payments made for purported consulting services by submitting fabricated invoices on behalf of a sham consulting company. In February 2022, the co-conspirator allegedly incorporated Evoluzione Consulting LLC. Bhambi allegedly created a website for the company, complete with false information and blog posts, to make it seem as though the company was a legitimate consulting business.
Once the company was incorporated, Bhambi and the co-conspirator allegedly submitted a statement of work to Takeda and caused Takeda to sign a master services agreement with Evoluzione and issue a purchase order to Evoluzione for consulting services at a cost of $3.542 million.
Between March 2022 and May 2022, Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator fabricated and submitted five invoices to Takeda for services that the company had not performed, each invoice to the tune of $460,000. When Takeda employees questioned the invoices, Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator made false representations about the services purportedly provided by Evoluzione. Takeda subsequently paid all five invoices to business accounts that were allegedly opened by the alleged co-conspirator in the name of Evoluzione.
Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator defrauded Takeda of a total of $2.3 million in payments to Evoluzione for services that were not provided. The funds were in turn used to purchase a Mercedes-Benz Model E and a diamond engagement ring; they were also used to make a down payment on a $1.875 million condominium in Boston and place a deposit on a wedding venue.
The Court issued seizure warrants for the Mercedes, more than $1 million in fraud proceeds from accounts controlled by Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator, nearly $50,000 from the wedding venue deposit and issued a restraining order to preserve the Boston condo for forfeiture.