Bernardi and Cardak also obtained additional investments in GigaTrust by faking a letter pretending to be from GigaTrust counsel in New York. They negotiated another $25 million deal with a lender, which requested diligence calls. The defendants devised a scheme to impersonate a GigaTrust customer and auditor to close the deal. Bernardi persuaded Chandra to pretend as a GigaTrust customer on a call with the lender. Bernardi and Cardak also sent fake bank statements to the lender before closing the $25 million deal
GigaTrust filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware in November 2019.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams charged Bernardi and Cardak with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, and one count of aggravated identity theft
U.S. Attorney Williams charged Chandra with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
