A federal jury found Atharva Shailesh Sathawane guilty on charges tied to an international scheme that targeted elderly Americans and involved roughly $8 million in losses, and the case will move to sentencing later this year in Gainesville.

Atharva Shailesh Sathawane, 22, who is from India, was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The verdict was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. The prosecution presented trial testimony and court records that traced the defendant’s role as a courier in a broader fraud operation.

According to evidence introduced at trial, the scheme focused on elderly victims who were convinced to liquidate retirement accounts and hand over proceeds in the form of cash and gold. Those vulnerable individuals believed they were following legitimate instructions, only to see life savings converted into physical assets that left their control. The defendants exploited trust and confusion to extract significant sums from retired Americans.

While illegally present in the United States, the convicted courier routinely collected cash and gold from elderly victims and then completed handoffs to unknown associates in parking lots. Those drop-offs were coordinated across state lines and, in some instances, with people located in India, the defendant’s native country. The logistics of the scheme relied on physical pickups and in-person transfers rather than purely electronic movement of funds.

Prosecutors say the defendant participated in more than 30 separate transactions spanning multiple states, and phone evidence seized after his arrest helped tie him to those exchanges. Many of the Americans affected suffered devastating losses, with some losing their entire retirement nest eggs or facing severe financial hardship. The scope of the harm and the interstate nature of the activity elevated the case to federal authorities.

Local police moved after an alert elderly victim became suspicious and helped set up a ruse to catch the courier in Gainesville, Florida. Law enforcement arrested Sathawane when he arrived at the victim’s residence to collect additional gold as part of the ongoing scheme. That intervention stopped another planned pickup and produced evidence used at trial.

A subsequent forensic search of the defendant’s cellular phone confirmed his involvement and provided documentation of the numerous transactions and communications with co-conspirators. Those records formed a key part of the government’s narrative about how the operation functioned and who played what roles. Investigators used call logs, messages, and transactional notes to map the network involved in the fraud.

Sathawane faces up to 20 years in prison for each count on which he was convicted, exposing him to a lengthy federal sentence if the court imposes maximum penalties. The case grew out of a joint investigation by the Gainesville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit. Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner is handling the prosecution for the government.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 16, 2025, at 10:00 am at the United States Courthouse in Gainesville before Chief United States District Judge Allen C. Winsor. Courtroom procedures and sentencing calculations will follow federal guidelines and consider both the loss to victims and the defendant’s role in the conspiracy. Victim impact and restitution issues are likely to be part of the sentencing proceedings.

U.S. Attorney Heekin welcomed the result and emphasized law enforcement cooperation. “This successful prosecution was made possible by the outstanding investigative work of our local and federal law enforcement partners, and this criminal alien will be held accountable for his role in the financial exploitation of several vulnerable, elderly victims. I am incredibly proud of the work by my office to pursue justice on behalf of the defrauded victims in this case, and we will see to it that fraudsters are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The department and partner agencies routinely publish resources for preventing and reporting elder fraud, and victims or concerned family members can find guidance through Justice Department elder justice materials, the Civil Division Consumer Protection Branch, and federal reporting options at the Federal Trade Commission’s reporting site or hotline at 877-FTC-HELP. The Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime also provides assistance and information for people harmed by financial exploitation.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida serves as the principal federal litigator in the region and coordinates with local and national partners on complex investigations like this one. The conviction underscores a broader law enforcement focus on schemes that prey on seniors and on international fraud networks that use U.S.-based couriers to move stolen assets.