Politics
Raids on Texas jewellery stores expose large-scale fraud targeting elderly residents
Simultaneous raids on two jewellery businesses in the DFW Texas cities of Irving and Frisco are being described as the culmination of a year-long investigation by the Collin County Sheriff’s Office into a large-scale financial fraud targeting elderly residents.
Authorities say the operation is linked to hundreds of victims across Collin County and throughout Texas. According to CBS News Texas, the raids were carried out on Thursday, targeting Tilak Jewellers in Irving and Saima Jewellers in Frisco.
CBS News was granted exclusive access to the operation, which involved dozens of law enforcement officers working jointly with federal, state, and local agencies. Investigators with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office said the jewellery stores were suspected of conducting transactions involving gold obtained through fraudulent schemes that preyed on senior citizens.
Officials reported that significant quantities of gold and cash were seized from the locations and taken into evidence. An armoured vehicle was brought in to transport the seized assets, underscoring the unusually high value of the recovered material.
Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said in unequivocal terms that anyone attempting to defraud residents in Collin County would be pursued and held accountable. He noted that cases involving elderly victims are often particularly complex, as many victims delay reporting out of fear or embarrassment.
Despite these challenges, law enforcement agencies were able to dismantle what officials described as a coordinated criminal network through a sustained and methodical investigation.
According to official figures, approximately two hundred senior citizens in Collin County, all over the age of sixty-five, were victimised in the scheme. Losses in Collin County alone are estimated to exceed seven million dollars. Statewide, authorities believe the total financial damage from the fraud approaches fifty-five million dollars.
The Sheriff’s Office said more than four hundred thousand dollars has already been returned to victims, with additional restitution expected following the liquidation of seized gold and assets.
As a result of the investigation, five individuals have been arrested. They have been identified as Pranjal Jigneshkumar Patel, Simarjeet Singh Gill, Satish Amrutlal Kumar Patel, Arpit Desai, and Radhakrishna Yerramneni.
Court records in Collin County show that formal criminal charges have been filed against some of the suspects, while other cases are currently under review by a grand jury and being examined under organised crime statutes. The charges include financial exploitation of elderly individuals and large-scale theft.
Available public records and arrest documents indicate that all of the arrested suspects are reported to be of Indian origin. Law enforcement officials, however, have avoided linking nationality to criminal conduct in their official statements.
Immigration-related detainers have appeared in connection with some of the suspects, suggesting federal agencies are also monitoring the case. At this stage, no formal federal indictment has been publicly announced.
Authorities emphasised that the investigation remains ongoing. Officials anticipate further legal developments in the coming days, including the possibility of additional charges and arrests.
The operation is being described as one of the most significant enforcement actions to date in Collin County against financial crimes targeting elderly residents and is being cited by law enforcement as a major investigative success.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
- Tasnim news agency rejects reports of IRCG official targeting.
- Iranian media says govt investigation cause of explosion.
- Blast comes amid heightened tensions Tehran and Washington.
An explosion occurred at Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, Iranian media reported, without giving a cause for the blast.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the explosion were “completely false”.
Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information. Iranian authorities could not immediately be contacted for comment.
The port of Bandar Abbas lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.
The reported explosion comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the government.
At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said an “armada” was heading toward Iran. Multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused US, Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, inciting unrest and providing people with the means to “tear the nation apart”.
Despite repeated threats of military action against Iran, Trump predicted that Tehran would seek to negotiate a deal rather than face American military action.
“I can say this, they do want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter talks on its nuclear and missile programmes, Trump said “yeah, I have,” but refused to say what it was.
“We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading towards Iran right now,” Trump said, referring to a US naval carrier group in waters off Iran.
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