HOUSTON, Texas — Ketan Kamdar, 61, and Jheel Kamdar, 30, both of Katy, Texas, have been charged by indictment with offences related to a trade-based money-laundering scheme involving the purchase and sale of used copiers from American companies to pay operators of alleged fraud schemes in India, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut
The indictment alleges that Ketan Kamdar, a citizen of India, was the majority owner of Jainam International, Inc., a used copier wholesaler based in Houston, and that both Kamdars were listed in corporate filings as president of the company, the Justice Department said. The New England Signal, reporting the same Connecticut announcement, likewise described the pair as a Houston father and daughter charged with laundering India fraud proceeds through used copier sales.
Source: The New England Signal, Oct. 21, 2026
Since approximately 2023, prosecutors allege, the Kamdars conspired with individuals based in India to launder the proceeds of fraud schemes. They allegedly used Jainam International to purchase used copiers from companies, including companies based in Connecticut, with fraudulently obtained funds received from their Indian co-conspirators; the copiers were then shipped to Texas and on to India, where they were sold to pay the India-based conspirators in rupees. The Kamdars allegedly fabricated invoices to reflect false sales for items they did not sell, and which misrepresented that the copiers were sold to companies in Singapore and India controlled by the Kamdar family.
As one example, the indictment alleges that in June 2024 a Massachusetts resident was contacted by a co-conspirator who claimed to be from the Social Security Administration and told the victim that the victim had been charged with a crime. To resolve the purported charges, the victim withdrew approximately $248,000 from a retirement account and deposited the money into five different bank accounts, including more than $48,000 into an account held in the name of Jainam International, prosecutors say. Jainam allegedly accounted for the funds through fabricated invoices as payments for the sale of used copiers from a company in India controlled by Ketan Kamdar, and the proceeds from selling copiers in India were then used to pay the India-based criminals in rupees.
The Kamdars were arrested on federal criminal complaints on September 2, 2026, the Justice Department said. On September 3, a grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment charging each of them with two counts of money-laundering conspiracy, an offence that carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison on each count. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $4,184,295.22 — yaani about $4.18 million.
Ketan Kamdar appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti, pleaded not guilty and was released on a $1.5 million bond, the department said. Jheel Kamdar was arraigned on September 30 and released on a $100,000 bond. U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt: the charges are allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The investigation was conducted by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security export-enforcement office, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.