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Indian student in US sentenced for loan fraud

New York: A former Indian medical student in the US who went by two aliases has been sentenced to a term just a day under one year on charges of loan and scholarship fraud.

Arijit Kumar Chowdhury, aka Steve Valdez and Dale Barber, 36, formerly of Somerville, Massachusetts, was sentenced by a US district judge Joseph L. Tauro to 364 days in prison. This would be followed by two years of supervised release.

Chowdhury was also ordered to pay restitution to the educational institutions and student loan agencies from whom he obtained money. He would be deported to India after his sentence.

In sentencing him, the judge noted: 'He used up several hundred thousand dollars of financial aid that could have gone to people who belonged in this country and I view that as a serious offence.'

At a previous hearing, Chowdhury pleaded guilty to three counts of indictment charging him with fraud in connection with obtaining federally guaranteed Stafford loans totalling $98,865; fraud in obtaining a half-tuition scholarship from Tufts University; and making false statements to the US Department of Health and Human Services in obtaining a $36,666 scholarship.

At the plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that Chowdhury came to the US from India in the late 1980s on a student visa. After spending two years at Texas A&M University, he left college and his visa expired.

Chowdhury remained in the US, however, using the name Steven Valdez and a social security number taken from an individual with a similar name.

Using the name Valdez, Chowdhury falsely claimed to be a US citizen, saying he was of Hispanic ethnic background and also that he was an orphan.

Based on these false representations, he was admitted to Oberlin College and later to Tufts Medical School. His education was financed with scholarships that were earmarked for students from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as student loans that were available only to US citizens.

He has been in federal custody since his arrest in August 2004.