BOSTON — A Massachusetts man who, along with his girlfriend, defrauded Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. of $2.3 million and used the money to buy luxury items and a $1.9 million luxury condo in Boston’s Seaport District, will spend time in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney said Monday.
Samuel N. Montronde, 39, of Brockton, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV handed down his sentence.
Montronde was also ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution.
In December, Montronde was convicted of three counts of wire fraud by a federal jury in Boston. The jury acquitted Montronde of one count of wire fraud conspiracy.
Montronde was arrested and charged in January 2023 along with his girlfriend, Priya Bhambi of Brookline, a former senior employee in the technology operations group of Takeda, for setting up a fake consulting company that billed Takeda for services it never actually provided, Foley said.
The two were later indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2023.
The couple used the money it defrauded from Takeda to buy a Mercedes-Benz Model Class E, a diamond engagement ring, freightliner trucks, a $1.9-million 2-bedroom condo in Boston’s Seaport District and a $50,000 wedding venue deposit, prosecutors said. These assets are now subject to the court’s forfeiture order.
In October 2024, Bhambi was sentenced to 46 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Bhambi was also ordered to pay $2,585,480 in restitution.
In 2022, Montronde and Bhambi orchestrated and executed a scheme to defraud Takeda of at least $2.3 million in payments “for purported consulting services by submitting fabricated invoices on behalf of a sham consulting company,” Foley said.
Prosecutors said Bhambi had previously engaged in the same fraud using a different sham consulting company, resulting in payments from Takeda totaling nearly $300,000 for consulting services that were never provided.
In February 2022, Montronde and Bhambi incorporated a sham consulting company, Evoluzione Consulting LLC. Later, prosecutors said Bhambi created a website for Evoluzione with false information, including fabricated blog posts, to make it appear that Evoluzione was a legitimate consulting business.
After incorporating Evoluzione, Bhambi, in coordination with Montronde, submitted a statement of work to Takeda, resulting in Takeda signing a master services agreement with Evoluzione. Bhambi issued a purchase order to Evoluzione for consulting services with a total cost of $3.542 million, prosecutors said.
Then, between March and May of 2022, Bhambi and Montronde fabricated and submitted five separate invoices to Takeda for services that Evoluzione had not performed, each in the amount of $460,000, prosecutors said.
The couple also created a fictional employee, “Jasmine,” to handle communications with Takeda, prosecutors said.
“When questioned by Takeda employees, Bhambi made false representations regarding the services purportedly provided by Evoluzione,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its statement Monday. “Before discovering the scheme and terminating Bhambi, Takeda, relying on these false representations, paid all five of the invoices to business accounts opened by Montronde in the name of Evoluzione.”
In total, Bhambi and Montronde defrauded Takeda of $2.3 million in payments to Evoluzione for services not provided, prosecutors said.
Foley and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement on Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie Wright and Mackenzie Queenin of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Head, Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit, is handling the forfeiture matter.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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