A Guttenberg, New Jersey man accused of swindling more than $4.4 million from several prominent Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers pleaded guilty in Federal court on Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Vinod Tonangi, 32, admitted to his role in an elaborate scheme that bilked millions from major telephony providers like AT&T (News 
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According to court documents, Tonangi and his co-conspirators set up shell companies – with no actual operations – that purported to be legitimate VOIP wholesalers. The defendants would purchase VoIP services from providers on credit and then turn around and market them to established VoIP resellers at a higher volume than what had been approved, according to NJ.com.
The shell companies – Paradise Communications, Reach Communications and Airtel (News - Alert) – would send the victim telephony companies fake wire transfer confirmations and small payments to entice them to continue to provide them with VoIP services. If legal action was threatened against Tonangi and his co-conspirators, they would respond in the form of documents crafted by a fake attorney, Frank Soss. The non-existent lawyer even had his own passport, created by the defendants.
The fraudulent operation involved a number of cons, including establishing fake company addresses, counterfeit qualifications as a VoIP wholesaler and bogus email addresses of non-existent employees. Tonangi and his co-conspirators even set up an internal company telephone tree that gave callers the appearance of a legitimate company.
Instead of being transferred to various departments within the company, callers would be sent to the cell phone of one of the co-conspirators. The accused parties even went as far as to create fraudulent end-of-year financial statements.
Tonangi and co-defendant Harjeet Bhambhani, 39, are scheduled to be sentenced on August 24, 2011 by U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan. The charges come with a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to COMTEX.
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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
