Rameh Nathan told investors that his space company Bay Area had seven offices worldwide, employed more than 15,000 people and generated $ 30 billion in profits in one quarter. But, according to the indictment which led to its conviction for fraud, the company had no offices, no workers and no income.
A jury discovered Nathan, 43, found guilty of fraud and money laundering after an eight -day trial on Thursday.
In 2016 and 2017, and perhaps earlier, Nathan took about $ 50,000 to six investors, including American military veterans, said his indictment. He triggered them with false promises that his research fund on relativity based in San Francisco was involved in the development of interstellar space travel technology, prototype spacecrafts, power -free propulsion systems, advanced robotics and other innovations, said the accusation. Relativity had an office in the city’s financial district, according to the indictment.
His declaration to investors that relativity had fulfilled the quotation requirements on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange was also false, said the indictment. The same goes for a statement that the company would merger with another company, according to the indictment.
“Ramesh Nathan has shot fantastic tales on space travel technology and advanced robotics to encourage investors to finance his business, but all he had to offer was science fiction,” said federal prosecutor Patrick Robbins after the jury’s verdict in San Francisco US District Court. “He deceived his investors, many of whom were veterans, about a nonexistent company. Then he used poorly acquired funds to line his own pockets. ”
Relativity, said Robbins, was “a nonexistent business”.
Nathan bleached investor funds through various bank accounts, prosecutors said. He used money for personal expenses, including trips, and also transferred funds to a bank account abroad, his mother and his former girlfriend, said the indictment.
Nathan was arrested in 2019 when he was trying to leave the United States, according to court documents.
Sentenced for six fraud chiefs and two silver laundering chiefs, Nathan risks a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each accusation of fraud and 10 years for the two accusation of money laundering, but the federal directives of determination of the sentence make the maximum convictions rare. He is also faced with the confiscation of everything well won thanks to his crimes.
He must appear before the court on June 13.
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