Two executives of the Chicago-based start-up Outcome Health, who are of Indian origin, were found guilty by a federal jury in the US of operating a significant corporate fraud scheme that was directed at the company's customers, lenders, and investors. During a 10-week trial, the jury found the co-founder and former CEO, Rishi Shah, guilty on 19 of 22 counts, the co-founder and former president, Shradha Agarwal, guilty on 15 of 17 counts, and the former chief operating officer, Brad Purdy, guilty on 13 of 15 counts, according to PTI.
On each count of bank fraud and each count of wire and mail fraud, the defendants Shah, Agarwal, and Purdy may be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison and 20 years in prison, respectively.
The maximum sentence for Shah for each count of money laundering is ten years in prison. They will have a sentencing hearing set for a later time.
In medical offices across the US, Outcome Health had installed electronic devices, and it had rented out advertising space to clients, primarily pharmaceutical firms. Shah, Agarwal, and Purdy, however, sold advertising inventory that the business lacked and failed to carry out the advertised campaigns. Despite this, they continued to bill customers as though they had made a complete delivery.
To hide the under-delivery and give the impression that the content had been supplied to the number of screens specified in the clients' contracts, the trio misled clients and other parties.
In order to obtain finance, Shah, Agarwal, and Purdy exaggerated the company's 2015 and 2016 audited financial statements' revenue statistics. In April 2016, they raised USD 110 million in debt financing. In December 2016, they raised USD 375 million in loan financing. In the beginning of 2017, they raised USD 487.5 million in equity financing. To cover up their continued inability to provide advertising campaigns for clients, the trio mislead lenders and investors.
Shah received a payout of $30.2 million and Agarwal received a dividend of $7.5 million from the USD 110 million loan financing. Shah and Agarwal received a USD 225 million dividend from the USD 487.5 million in equity investment.
