Parmjit “Paul” Parmar, an Indian-born investor who continued to squander money in 2008 and said he would not suffer a recession, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Palma pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, including overstating earnings, falsifying bank records and misleading investors in a publicly traded health services company where he was CEO. The fraud is estimated to involve more than $212 million.
39,000-square-foot mansion in New Jersey
Palma is known for his lavish lifestyle, and his 39,000-square-foot mansion has received extensive media coverage. A report from the time detailed how his mansion had an underground tunnel connecting the main house to the entertainment annex. The annex has an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, wine cellar, gym, mini theater, bar. Among the many pools on the property is a saltwater pool surrounded by imported sand.In 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, Palma declared in an interview that the recession had not affected him and claimed that he continued to invest heavily in luxury goods to help the economy. He told reporters that he recently bought a BMW worth $110,000 for his girlfriend and a Bentley for himself.By 2011, however, Palma’s financial fortunes had reversed. The mansion went into foreclosure and owed about $26.3 million, mainly to Deutsche Bank.
self-made entrepreneur
Palma said in previous interviews that he grew up in India, came to the United States at the age of 19, and started his own business without family support. At the age of 25, he founded Pegasus Consulting Group and subsequently became involved in many businesses.
Fraud
Court documents show that Palma’s legal troubles stem from his leadership of a health care company. He and others allegedly created false customer lists, fabricated financial statements and used forged documents to lure investors.“From May 2015 to September 2017, Palma and his co-conspirators, including Sotirios Zaharis (a.k.a. “Sam Zaharis”) and Ravi Chivukula, orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud a private investment firm and others of hundreds of millions of dollars in connection with the financing of a privatization transaction for a healthcare services company that was publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. To fund the transaction, private investment firms contributed approximately $82.5 million and a consortium of financial institutions contributed an additional $130 million, for a total of approximately $212.5 million. Court documents allege that the conspirators used fraudulent means to significantly inflate the value of the company and deceive others into believing that the company was worth much more than it actually was.
