Florida Man Receives 21-Month Prison Sentence for Fraud

A Florida man has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for a fraud scheme perpetrated against businesses and individuals seeking lines of credit, according to an announcement on Friday from Christy Romero, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen to Michael Pitamber Ramdat, 30, of Palm Bay, Florida, on Wednesday, January 21, according to the announcement from SIGTARP and Melinda Haag, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, and David J. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Francisco Field Office. Ramdat was indicted on November 21, 2013, on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to all counts on June 11, 2014.

Court documents stated that Ramdat and his business partner, Leigh Farrington Fiske, of Tampa, Florida, operated a business called Corporate Funding solutions, the purported purpose of which was to obtain lines of credit for customers who paid a fee. Fiske solicited customers for the business via the Internet and word of mouth, but the two men never intended to offer any services for the fees collected. Ramdat served as a "customer service" representative, where his job was to vouch for the legitimacy of the business with victims recruited by Fiske and to provide excuses to victims of the fraud.

The two men collected about $433,000 from approximately 30 victims without obtaining lines of credit for them or providing any services at all. Ramdat admitted that he kept more than $200,000 of the money. The two men funneled monies they received from the scam through banks that received funding through TARP, according to the plea agreement.

Last month, Fiske was sentenced by Judge Chen to 37 months in prison, which he will begin serving on March 31. In addition to the prison sentence, Ramdat was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution. He will begin serving his prison sentence immediately.