Matawan Man, Sister Charged With Running Scheme

MATAWAN, NJ — A Matawan man and his sister have been charged with running a multi-million-dollar fraudulent invoice scheme, acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced Wednesday. The Matawan man, Shevandra Verasawmi, 37, and his sister, Vishallie Verasawmi, 36, of Green Brook were indicted Wednesday with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and three counts of mail fraud.

He was arrested yesterday in North Carolina; she was arrested this morning and appeared in Newark federal court Wednesday afternoon.

The sister was employed by an unnamed company. At her brother's request, federal prosecutors say the woman added multiple shell companies to her company's accounts payable system. Between April through August of last year, her company paid over $1 million to these shell companies, prosecutors say.

Shevandra and Vishallie Verasawmi then submitted dozens of fraudulent invoices to her employer and ultimately deposited the fraud proceeds into bank accounts they controlled, prosecutors charge. In total, Shevandra and Vishallie Verasawmi attempted to divert millions of dollars belonging to her employer and spent the proceeds on personal expenses, including luxury cars and credit card payments.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of Shevandra and Vishallie Verasawmi’ s alleged proceeds from the scheme, including $1,066,829.57 and a 2016 BMW 750Li xDrive sedan.