Escambia Businessman Indicted On Multiple Federal Charges

August 22, 2015

Herdeypal Singh Bhatti, 41, was arraigned Fiday in the U.S. District Court in Pensacola after a federal grand jury returned two separate indictments charging him with unlawfully attempting to procure naturalization and with wire and mail fraud.
The naturalization indictment alleges that, in November 2011, Bhatti knowingly and falsely  indicated on his naturalization application that he never failed to file a required federal income tax return and that he did not owe overdue federal taxes. The trial is scheduled for September

The fraud indictment alleges that, in 2010 and 2011, Bhatti committed wire and mail fraud by knowingly submitting fraudulent claims and supporting documentation to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (“GCCF”) in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The indictment alleges that Bhatti falsely claimed to be a hotel manager seeking payment for his lost earnings from the spill. The trial is scheduled for October 5, 2015.

These cases resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Pensacola Police Department, and the State Attorney’s Office for the 1st Judicial Circuit. Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg is prosecuting the cases.

Comments

2 Responses to “Escambia Businessman Indicted On Multiple Federal Charges”

  1. Jim on August 22nd, 2015 12:44 pm

    Ah…another “Dreamer”!

  2. David Huie Green on August 22nd, 2015 8:21 am

    Sounds American to me. “Who can I cheat?”

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News