Two men have been sentenced in one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever.
TRENTON -- Two owners of a Jersey City jewelry store were sentenced Monday in a $200 million international credit card fraud scheme -- one of the largest ever charged by federal authorities, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
Vijay Verma, 49, and Tarsem Lal, 78, both of Iselin, were sentenced to 14 months in prison and a year of house arrest, respectively, after previously pleading guilty to their roles in the scheme, the statement said.
U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson issued the sentence in Trenton federal court on Monday.
Verma and Lal were indicted in October 2013 for fabricating more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards.
The scheme involved an "elaborate network of false identities" and thousands of "drop addresses" across the country -- including houses, apartments and P.O. boxes -- which were used as mailing addresses for the false identities.
Credit reports were doctored, according to officials, to "pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards." The men borrowed or spent as much as they could without repaying the debts, causing more than $200 million in losses to businesses and financial institutions, according to officials in the statement.
Verma and Lal both admitted to allowing people to come into their store to use credit cards they knew did not legitimately belong to them. The two men would then split the proceeds of the phony transactions with these other conspirators.
Verma was also sentenced to three years of supervision upon release and Lal was also sentenced to three years of probation. They were both fined $5,000 and were ordered to pay a forfeiture of nearly $500,000.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.