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Two East Bay men and one from Elk Grove have been indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged insurance fraud related to the collapse of a Livermore insurance company.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Tuesday it charged Jasbir Thandi, Sandeep Sahota, and Jaspreet Padda with insurance fraud crimes related to the collapse of Global Hawk Risk Retention Group.
The indictment says 67-year-old Thandi, of El Sobrante, was the president and treasurer of Global Hawk and, between 2017 and 2019, he allegedly misappropriated over $19 million in Global Hawk funds. That included sending more than $1 million to an entity domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, and over $7 million to other outside entities controlled by Thandi, prosecutors allege.
The indictment also alleges Thandi, 47-year-old Sahota, of Concord, and 40-year-old Padda, of Elk Grove, submitted false and fraudulent financial statements to insurance regulators that overstated Global Hawk's assets by tens of millions of dollars and concealed the misappropriations.
Sahota was Global Hawk's vice president and secretary and Padda was the company's outside investment advisor. Global Hawk's primary business was providing automobile liability insurance coverage for truck drivers and small trucking companies. In May 2020, after regulators discovered the misappropriation, Global Hawk was declared insolvent and was liquidated by a court order.
The indictment charges Thandi, Sahota, and Padda with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and two counts of insurance fraud. Thandi was also charged with two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of bank fraud. The indictment alleges in 2016, Thandi obtained a $6.4 million bank loan based on false representations and in 2017, obtained another $14.75 million bank loan, also based on false representations.
The conspiracy count has a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Each insurance fraud count has a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Each bank fraud count has a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000,000. Sahota and Padda were arrested Monday.
Anyone who thinks they may be a victim in this case should contact the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California's victim specialists by email at USACAN.DCVictimAsst@usdoj.gov.
