Three Accused of Defrauding the Elderly via Gold Bar Scam

ST. LOUIS - Three people accused of involvement in a conspiracy that stole $8 million from elderly victims have been federally charged in St. Louis and arrested.

Raj Chauhan, 33, Monarch Sachdev, 28, and Elon Harper, 27, were each indicted on Feb. 4, 2026, with one count of wire fraud. Chauhan was the final defendant to appear in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, where he pleaded not guilty Friday. All three were arrested in February outside Missouri: Harper was arrested in Maine, Sachdev in Texas and Chauhan in northern Illinois.

The indictment says co-conspirators outside of the U.S. contacted elderly victims via telephone calls and electronic messages and claimed that the victims' financial accounts had been compromised. Victims were told to liquidate their savings and retirements funds, purchase gold bars and gold coins, and hand the gold over to "government" couriers. The indictment says Chauhan, Sachdev and Harper were couriers and Sachdev also managed the pickups of other couriers, including his co-defendants.

In one example in the indictment, Sachdev instructed Chauhan to pick up gold from an elderly resident of Cedar Hill, Missouri, who had been told that she had erroneously been sent money via PayPal and would have to pay income taxes unless she bought $200,000 in gold. Chauhan also worked as a courier in St. Louis and elsewhere, the indictment says. Harper worked as a courier in locations including Dallas and Lindale, Texas; Orrick, Mo.; Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Bonita Springs, Fla.; and Norman, Okla., the indictment says. Sachdev managed pickups in Houston; Canon City, Colo.; Quincy, Ill. and St. Louis.

Detention motions say Sachdev was personally responsible for retrieving fraud proceeds on at least 65 different occasions, resulting in losses of at least $5.4 million. He also facilitated the pickup of at least $4.2 million in fraud proceeds by others, the motion says. Harper was responsible for at least 20 pickups, it says. The call center where the scam originated is in India, the motion says.

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine. Restitution is mandatory.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

If you or someone you know is 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, contact the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, can identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting and provide resources and referrals. Reporting frauds can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish, and other languages are available. The Federal Trade Commission can also be contacted at 877-FTC-HELP and at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.