Authorities: Naperville woman, brother-in-law took millions from victims

A federal grand jury has indicted a Naperville woman and her brother-in-law on charges they defrauded victims of millions of dollars, including donating worthless checks to a suburban university and obtaining money for bogus charitable fundraisers, authorities said Friday.

Nandita Chatterjee, 36, and Neil Varma, a 34-year-old living in New York, were charged Wednesday with fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, using forged checks and illegal monetary transaction.

According to the indictment, Chatterjee and Varma represented themselves as president and chief financial officer, respectively, of Oakbrook Terrace-based CS Management Inc. since April 2011. The company was involuntarily dissolved in October 2012.

Authorities say they also conducted business under the name Chatterjee Pharmaceuticals, a business supposedly operating in India.

Federal prosecutors accuse Chatterjee and Varma of scheming to "enrich themselves and maintain their lifestyle" by misrepresenting their success, investment opportunities, ability to help with legal problems and charitable fundraising opportunities, according to a news release. They are accused of tendering more than $12 million in checks drawn on closed accounts, nonexistent accounts or accounts with insufficient money, prosecutors said.

In 2013, according to the indictment, Chatterjee wrote a counterfeit check for $1 million to Benedictine University, "knowing full well that the checks were worthless," according to the indictment.

She's accused of writing another counterfeit check to a university for $2.5 million, but the indictment does not identify the school.

Chatterjee and Varma also are accused of obtaining funds to secure a celebrity appearance at a charitable event that never happened. Prosecutors said the funds were deposited in an escrow account.

"The concerts, entertainment productions, and charitable fundraisers never materialized and the funds the defendants obtained instead allegedly were used for their own personal benefit," according to the release.

Chatterjee and Varma are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court on June 28 in Chicago.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorneys office for the Central District of Illinois because the Northern District of Illinois has been recused from the litigation.

The charges are the result of investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.