Chicago, July 2: Two Indian-origin people, formerly working as executives of Chicago-based healthcare tech startup Outcome, were recently found guilty and sentenced to USD 1 billion in fraud. Rishi Shah and Shradha Agrawal, who worked at Outcome, a healthcare startup in the US, were reportedly involved in a fraud scheme that targeted the company's clients, lenders, and investors. These two allegedly overbilled clients and falsified advertising metrics impacted lenders and investors. 

Rishi Shah, one of the alleged fraudsters, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, and Shradha Agrawal was sentenced to 3 years in a halfway house. Both of these people were former executives at Outcome Healthcare Technology Startup based in Chicago who were involved in a fraud scheme through which they gained funds, according to a report by India Today. Bland AI Voice Bot Lies and Claims To Be Human on Call With 14-Years-Old, Asks Her To Upload Her Upper Thigh’s Photos to Shared Cloud: Report.

The US Department of Justice said the charges involved were around USD 1 billion (around Rs 7,500 crore) in fraudulently obtaining funds. The accused, 38-year-old Rishi Shah, had been Outcome's co-founder and CEO, established in 2006. Shradha Agarwal, 38 years old accused, also co-founded Outcome and had been president of the healthcare tech startup. 

Accompanying these two Indian-origin people was a third accused named Brad Purdy, a 35-year-old person serving as chief operating officer and financial officer at the company. Brad was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. Outcome: the healthcare tech startup was known as Context Media before January 2017. Context Media is used to install television screens and tablets at the doctors' offices in the US. Later, the company sold advertising space to their clients in pharmaceutical companies on the devices.

The report mentioned that all three accused sold advertising inventory, which was not owned by the company, along with under-delivered ad campaigns. Despite this, the company charged fully from the clients, assuming complete delivery. The evidence presented in front of the authorities suggested that the trio lied and concealed the under-delivery from the clients. Brad Purdy and others inflated the metrics inside the company, showing patients frequently engaged in the company's tablets installed at the doctors' offices. Groww Aims To Debunk Misinformation to Over 1.5 Crore Customers Amid Concerns of Portfolio Validation.

Rishi Shah, Shradha Agarwal and Brad Purdy were convicted in April 2023 by a federal jury after the under-delivery of the company's advertising clients led to material overstatement in Outcome's revenue from 2015 to 2016.  Rishi Shah was convicted of five counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and two counts of money laundering. On the other hand, Shradha Agarwal was convicted of five counts of mail fraud, eight of wire fraud, and two of bank fraud.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2024 02:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).