Former healthcare CEO sentenced to 5 years in prison for role in $212M fraud conspiracy
The former CEO of a publicly traded healthcare company has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to participating in a $212 million investment fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
In an announcement, the agency confirmed that Parmjit “Paul” Parmar, 55, from New Jersey admitted to his crimes on May 7, 2025, and was almost exactly a year later sentenced. Officially, the former executive—whose business was identified only as “Company A”—pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit securities fraud,” which earned him a 60-month sentence.
Additionally, Parmar will be subjected to three years of supervised release when he eventually leaves prison. He will also be forced to pay more than $125 million in “victim restitution,” the DOJ added.
The hearing to decide Parmar’s fate occurred in a federal court in Newark.
Valuation was all smoke
According to prosecutors, from May 2015 through September 2017, Parmar and his co-conspirators “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” to defraud an investment firm and other victims—including financial institutions—of a total of $212.5 million.
The scheme involved Parmar, Sotirios “Sam” Zaharis and Ravi Chivukula tricking victims into believing the value of Company A was substantially more than it was in reality. This was done in order to raise money to take the business private.
Further, Parmar and the conspirators sought to raise tens of millions of dollars in the public markets, money that would allegedly be used to purchase new subsidiaries. However, a number of those supposed subsidiaries did not exist, authorities discovered.
To cover their tracks, the defendants “falsified and fabricated” bank records to deceptively make it seem like new revenue streams were coming in from those subsidiaries. However, it was just funds from the scammed investors that Parmar, et al. were attempting to explain away.
Company A ended up being “valued” at over $300 million, the conspirators told investors. But, it was really just a Ponzi scheme, court documents show.
Once the scheme was uncovered and the three resigned from their respective positions, the unnamed company and some of its actual subsidiaries declared bankruptcy in March 2018.
Zaharis and Chivukala have also been found guilty for their roles, but the DOJ did not say what sentences they could face.
In a press release from 2018 when the three men were arrested, the DOJ referred to Company A as a “healthcare services” group.
The name of the company appears in past coverage of the case, but HealthExec has opted to redact it to align with official announcements.