Statesville business owner, nephew, sentenced in stolen electronics case; Mahtani is owner of New York Styles

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A Statesville store owner and his nephew were sentenced for conspiring to transport stolen electronic devices to other states and overseas, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Dena J. King.

Lal H. Mahtani, 58, of Statesville received a sentence of three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. His nephew Vivek Ramesh Mahtani, 41, of Cornelius was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, King said in a news release.

The two men were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday for conspiring to transport fraudulently obtained and stolen Apple iPhones and other electronic devices to buyers in other states and overseas, King said.

According to filed documents, the defendants shipped more than 1,700 pounds of fraudulently obtained devices, resulting in financial losses that exceeded $1.5 million, King said.

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According to documents filed in the case, from 2018 through February 2020, the defendants worked together in a scheme to purchase new iPhones and other electronic devices from individuals who had obtained the devices through fraudulent means. The devices were often obtained from wireless stores. The defendants purchased the new iPhones, which were frequently in their sealed packaging at prices substantially below their retail value, King said.

Many of the devices were purchased by Lal Mahtani at New York Styles, his retail store in Statesville. The defendants used a shipping company to transport the devices to other states, including California, Texas, New York and Georgia, as well as overseas destinations, such as Hong Kong, King said.

New York Styles is located at 103 E. Broad St., in Statesville, according to Google Maps. The store is listed as a men’s clothing store. Posts on the store’s Facebook page advertise repair services for cellular devices and Apple iPhones for sale.

Vivek Mahtani also sold devices to Cellport, a Charlotte-based business owned and operated by Hamzeh Alasfar and Tayseer Alkhayyat. Alasfar and Alkhayyat pleaded guilty in Charlotte last month to related charges, King said.

This case was the result of the investigative efforts of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service, King said.

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