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NEW YORK, NY — A New York mother of two, who defrauded donors out of more than $51,000 by posing as a terminal cancer patient in need of treatment, was sentenced on July 13 to two years in federal prison on charges of wire fraud.
Indian American Shivonie Deokaran, who also goes by the name Vedouti Hoobraj, apologized in court before her sentencing to her sons, donors, and victims of cancer. “Words can’t describe the pain and hurt I have caused you. I’ll spend the rest of my life becoming the mother you deserve,” she said.
Hoobraj asked US District Judge Vincent Briccetti for mercy and her lawyers requested just a year and a day in prison. But Bricetti called Hoobraj’s crime “truly appalling.”
According to a Justice Department report, from 2014 through 2016 in Westchester County, New York, and elsewhere, Hoobraj solicited donations by falsely stating that she had been diagnosed with terminal stage leukemia, had been given only 18 months left to live, and needed money for medical care and other expenses.
Hoobraj obtained donations through two GoFundMe fundraising websites, direct giving, and a fundraising event hosted by parents and students of Ardsley High School, the high school attended by both of her sons. She publicized her fundraisers in press interviews, online postings, and emails.
Hoobraj received more than $50,000 in donations from over 400 people. She even defrauded her then-boyfriend, Nikhlesh Parekh, that she had been diagnosed with cancer in August 2014.