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United States Attorney’s Office ALEXANDRIA NEWPORT NEWS NORFOLK RICHMOND UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHUCK ROSENBERG |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jim Rybicki
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September 21, 2007 |
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Leader of Racketeering and Gambling Organization Pleads Guilty
(Alexandria, VA) – Raj Kumar Bansal, 63, of Annandale, Virginia, pled guilty today to a racketeering conspiracy before United States District Judge Claude M. Hilton. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office; Charles Pine, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation; and, Colonel David M. Rohrer, Chief of Police, Fairfax County Police Department, made the announcement. Bansal faces up to 20 years in prison and has agreed to a forfeiture judgment of $2,500,000. Bansal also has agreed to cooperate with the United States as part of his plea agreement.
According to court documents, Raj Bansal admitted being the leader of an organization operating and managing an illegal gambling business and laundering more than $2.5 million in profits of that business from 1993 through 2007. Bansal admitted engaging in a “loan sharking” operation and having “no show” jobs at businesses in Alexandria, Virginia. Bansal also admitted working with a co-conspirator to collect gambling debts by having gamblers sign loan documents securing those debts with their homes.
This is the tenth guilty plea in this investigation, “Operation Underdog,” including the pleas of Bansal’s two sons, Nicholas, 36, of Stafford, Virginia, and Steven, 32, of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Both previously pleaded guilty to participating in the racketeering conspiracy with their father and both will be sentenced by United States District Judge Claude M. Hilton on September 28, 2007.
Another defendant in the same investigation, Thomas Norwood Chinault, 59, of Stafford, Virginia, was sentenced today to 27 months in prison by United States District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Four defendants, Sharon Rudolph Connelly, 67, of Springfield, Virginia, Donovan Anthony Moncrieffe, 39, of Alexandria, Virginia, Rajan Harjani, 49, of Springfield, Virginia, and Krishna Pillai Balakrishnan Nair, 64, of Alexandria, Virginia, remain scheduled to go to trial on the
racketeering and money laundering conspiracy charges before United States District Judge Claude M. Hilton on October 16, 2007.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and the Fairfax County Police Department are investigating the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel Grooms and Edmund Power.
Defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.