Extradited from
Singapore Stock Fraudster
Shamoon Rafiq Gets 57 Months
Victim Speaks
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
Exclusive,
May 17 – A man convicted of
fraud in Google stock in 2004,
then hit with a sealed
indictment in 2020, was
presented on Friday in Federal
court in Manhattan after
extradition from Singapore.
Inner City Press was the only
media there; this is an
exclusive courtroom
story.
Shamoon
Rafiq is charged with setting
up a fake website and
"soliciting millions of
dollars from investment firms
in New York and elsewhere"
claiming he had pre-IPO stock.
US
Marshals brought him before
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Robyn F.
Tarnofsky on January 12. She
told him he is charged with
securities fraud, wire fraud
and aggravated identity
theft.
He was
detained on consent, with a
control date in
February.
On February 22,
he pled guilty, with a sixty
month deal: "the guilty plea
today of SHAMOON RAFIQ, a/k/a
“Shamoon Omer Rafiq,” a/k/a
“Omar Rafiq,” a/k/a “Omer
Rafiq,” a resident of
Singapore, for engaging in a
scheme in which RAFIQ
solicited millions of dollars
of investors’ money by falsely
representing that he was
offering investments in shares
of stock in privately held
companies that had not yet
conducted an initial public
offering (“pre-IPO stock”),
even though in fact he did not
actually have those shares to
offer, by impersonating senior
officials of a reputable
family office investment
firm." Plea agreement on
Patreon here.
On May 7, his
lawyer wrote in that in light
of the harsh conditions of his
detention in Singapore, the
disadvantages of being a
non-citizen inmate in the BOP
and some redacted reasons, he
should get less then 5 years
on May 17.
On May 13, the US
Attorney's Office wrote it
requesting the Guidelines
sentence of 5 years.
On May 17, Inner
City Press went to the
sentencing. In the hall
outside, it spoke with the
victim who would later speak
in the proceeding. When the
time came, he described having
to fend off lawsuit and
considering suicide.
Judge Marrero
sentenced Rafiq to 57 months,
adding on a year of supervised
release to allow benefits
under the First Step Act.
Danbury is recommended.
More detail on
Substack here.
he case is US v.
Rafiq, 24-cr-98 (Marrero /
Tarnofsky)
***
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