Two Indian-origin men have been charged with financial fraud in Brooklyn.
A company founded in 2010 and dissolved in 2025 was defrauding investors and shareholders through false revenue figures and fake contracts. Two Indian-origin men have been charged in this widespread financial scam involving Maryland-based technology company iLearning, which marketed itself as an “out-of-the-box AI platform.” Puthugramam “Harish” Chidambaran, founder and former chief executive officer, and Syed Farhan Ali “Farhan” Naqvi, former chief financial officer of iLearning, were arrested on 17 April and produced in court. Court documents say he took advantage of investor enthusiasm over the AI boom and lied to his investors and lenders, inflating figures. United States Attorney Nocella said that the real artificial part of their story was their customers and revenue.
Company’s growth story
Founded in 2010, iLearning claimed to earn revenue primarily by selling licenses for its platform to customers, and the company reported rapidly growing revenues that reached $421 million in 2023. In April 2024, iLearning became a publicly traded company and received a $40 million loan proceeds from the New York City branch of a financial institution. The company then secured an additional $20 million loan from another New York City branch of a financial institution. Following its public transaction, iLearning’s shares began trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “AILE” and the company soon achieved a market capitalization of approximately $1.5 billion.
fake information, wrong contract
Investors and lenders had no idea that the company had made all its revenue through fraudulent means. Most of the agreements he showed had signatures of family members. Court documents cited an example of a complex fraud. On Chidambaran’s instructions, an associate, who previously worked as a vice president of iLearning, solicited and opened bank accounts in the names of several purported iLearning customers. The two main accused transferred millions of dollars from iLearning to an account controlled by this person. This individual then transferred those funds to other accounts under his control in the names of other entities before ultimately sending those funds back to iLearning. The total value of these round-trip transactions exceeded $144 million.In 2024, an investment research firm caught the fraud and published a report that iLearning misrepresented its revenues, causing the stock price to drop sharply. iLearning ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware in December 2024, and the proceedings were later converted to Chapter 7 liquidation in 2025, marking the company’s collapse.