Former Accountant for Middle Eastern Jewelry Exporter Sentenced to Prison for Evading More Than $1.89 Million in U.S. Customs Duties

CHICAGO - A former accountant for a gold jewelry exporter in the United Arab Emirates has been sentenced to ten months in federal prison for conspiring to avoid United States Customs duties on gold jewelry shipments imported by a suburban Chicago company.

RAVI KAPADIA conspired with the owner of a UAE exporter and others to fraudulently import gold jewelry from certain countries, including India, and avoid the payment of customs duties by falsely declaring that the jewelry originated in Oman. When agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection inquired about one of the UAE company's shipments bound for the Northern District of Illinois and asked for information about the jewelry's country of origin, Kapadia and others created and obtained false documentation to substantiate that the jewelry was purportedly manufactured in Oman. The false documentation included the creation of a list of purported employees with fictitious roles and salary information. The false documentation was then furnished to CBP.

Kapadia, 46, a citizen of India who most recently resided in Jersey City, N.J., pleaded guilty in October 2025 in U.S. District Court in Chicago to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States and enter goods by means of false statements. On June 26, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced Kapadia to ten months in federal prison and ordered him to pay restitution to the United States. Kapadia was held accountable at sentencing for evading more than $1.89 million in U.S. Customs duties from June 2019 to April 2020.

The conviction subjects Kapadia to removal from the United States.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly.

The Department of Justice recently selected the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office to be the lead prosecutorial partner to the Trade Fraud Task Force, which vigorously pursues enforcement actions against parties who seek to evade federal customs, trade, and adjacent laws. When U.S. Attorney Boutros served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 2008 to 2015, he led what still stand as the Department of Justice's largest-ever criminal trade fraud prosecutions, spanning 27 corporate and individual defendants across multiple indictments, with losses totaling approximately $260 million.

"Trade fraud, like the conspiracy perpetrated in this case, deprives the United States government of vital revenue and undermines consumer confidence," said U.S. Attorney Boutros. "Trade compliance is critically important to not only our region's economic security and public safety, but also that of our entire nation's. I can assure the citizens of the Northern District of Illinois that the U.S. Attorney's Office will be strongly committed to holding parties accountable for evading applicable duties and tariffs, which undermine the rule of law, harm American industry, and create a two-tier pricing structure: higher prices for buyers and sellers unwilling to transact in illegally-entered goods and cheaper prices for those willing to do so or who are otherwise indifferent."

"Protecting the integrity of our nation's borders and trade systems is a core mission for Homeland Security Investigations," said HSI SAC Scarpino. "This case demonstrates HSI's commitment to working alongside our partners to identify and disrupt complex schemes that threaten the U.S. economy and undermine lawful commerce. We will continue to pursue those who attempt to defraud the government and ensure that individuals and businesses are held accountable for violating federal customs laws."

On April 7, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.