similar to Hmong FRAUDs scamming other Hmong folks just cause they're also Hmong

[theking]

..so easy target for the FRAUDs:

NC man arrested in Ponzi scheme defrauded people in the Indian community, FBI says

A former Chapel Hill transportation engineer was arrested Tuesday on 23 charges tied to an investment scam known as a “Ponzi scheme,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Kumar Arun Neppalli, 56, of Cary, is charged with 17 counts of wire fraud and six counts of conducting transactions in criminally derived property, according to a news release. He is expected to go to trial later this year and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Neppalli, who was hired in 2000 as Chapel Hill’s traffic engineer, abruptly resigned as the town’s traffic engineering manager on Nov. 1, 2021, after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy that October.

Then-Town Manager Maurice Jones, who resigned from his job in December, told The News & Observer after the allegations surfaced that the town was taking them seriously but did not have evidence that Neppalli used his position to unduly influence development projects.

On Tuesday, town spokesman Ran Northam said in an email that staff did not find any irregularities regarding Neppalli’s work with the town.

Bilking investors
An N&O investigation revealed that Neppalli, a native of India, was accused of bilking 15 investors out of $1.9 million in business loans that he acquired through his connections with the Triangle’s Indian community.

Four investors who spoke with The N&O said they knew Neppalli through mutual friends or state and national Indian cultural groups.

Neppalli previously served as vice president and president of the Triangle Area Telugu Association, and as a former board member with the Hindu Society of North Carolina. He also served for 11 years as president of his Twin Oaks homeowners association in Cary.

Chapel Hill officials learned about the allegations in an October 2021 email from Srinivasa Yenduri, a Connecticut resident listed as a creditor in court documents. Yenduri, who did not respond to The N&O’s efforts to reach him, told court officials he gave Neppalli $150,000 for a “business loan,” documents showed.

Other investors spoke with The N&O on background only, citing a need to consult with their attorneys. Their investments ranged from $15,000 to $400,000 and were made over the last three years or longer, documents and interviews revealed.

The investors told The N&O that Neppalli touted his work-related development connections in promoting pending real estate deal with an unnamed local builder.

In some cases, the money represented his investors’ life savings, court documents showed.

According to the release, Neppalli asked his investors to give him money quickly — sometimes that day — and promised to return the principal investment along with a profit within a few months. He asked some of his investors not to talk about the pending deal with other people or referred them to a nondisclosure agreement, the release said.

“Our investigation shows Neppalli abused the trust and confidence placed in him by fellow Indian-American community members,” said Michael C. Scherck, FBI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge.