PORTLAND, Maine — An Indian national was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in U.S. District Court in Portland for conspiring to commit wire fraud in a scheme that took cash and gold from victims in five states, including Maine, the U.S. attorney's office for Maine said Thursday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Prakashkumar Prajapati, 47, on Nov. 4 and ordered him to pay $1,897,386 in restitution, prosecutors said. Prajapati pleaded guilty Jan. 15.

According to court records cited by prosecutors, victims got phone calls from people posing as government officials, who told them to withdraw cash and buy gold to turn over to the government for safekeeping. The callers then arranged for the victims to meet fake government agents and hand over the money and gold.

Prosecutors said Prajapati directed a co-defendant, Bharat Awasarmol, to collect gold and cash from victims. FBI agents caught Awasarmol accepting a package from a victim in Maine who had been told by a caller posing as a Federal Trade Commission employee to meet him and give him gold bars, according to prosecutors.

Prajapati and others collected cash and gold from seven more victims in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, all of whom had been deceived by callers posing as government officials, prosecutors said. The scheme caused $1,897,386 in losses, according to the office.

Awasarmol pleaded guilty Dec. 9, 2025, to wire fraud conspiracy and making a false statement. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2027.

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