NEWARK, N.J. – A Tennessee man today admitted using a company’s bank information to pay off personal debts, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. Ketan Ghutadaria, 50, of Johnson City, Tennessee, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From March 2018 through September 2018, Ghutadaria engaged in a fraudulent scheme to enrich himself by using Company-1’s bank account information to pay off his personal debts, including an automobile loan for the purchase of a 2017 Audi Q7.
Ghutadaria contacted companies to whom he owed money and provided those companies with Company-1’s bank account number and routing number. For example, on June 29, 2018, Ghutadaria contacted Bank of America and authorized it to submit an Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit transaction for $53,505 to Company-1’s bank account in New York. The release of those fraudulently obtained funds resulted in Ghutadaria paying off his automobile loan. Ghutadaria fraudulently caused Company-1 to pay off $164,109 of his personal debts. The count of wire fraud is punishable by a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2021.