A Monmouth County, New Jersey, doctor was sentenced to 27 months in prison for harboring two undocumented women from India and failing to pay taxes on their wages. Harsha Sahni, 68, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging her with one count of conspiracy to conceal and harbor aliens and one count of filing a false tax return. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: From 2013 through August 2021, Sahni conspired with others to conceal and harbor two foreign nationals from India, who Sahni recruited to work for Sahni and her family in their homes in New Jersey. Sahni harbored the victims for her and her conspirators’ financial gain and paid the victims’ families in India in exchange for their labor. Sahni caused the victims to believe that they would be arrested and deported if they interacted with law enforcement. Sahni instructed the victims to tell other people that they were related to Sahni, and Sahni used fake names and addresses in furtherance of the conspiracy. From 2013 to 2019, Sahni also failed to pay certain taxes notwithstanding that the victims were Sahni’s household employees. In addition to the prison term, Sahni was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $728,327. The defendant must also pay up to $200,000 for specific medical bills.
