Barrington man charged in $16 million mail scheme

The owner of an Illinois-based bulk mail company is facing federal mail fraud charges after prosecutors said he and two others bilked the U.S. Postal Service out of $16 million in revenue over a six-year span.

David Gargano, 51, of Barrington, is accused of plotting with two others to forge postal forms to get out of paying bulk mail fees between 2010 and 2015.

Federal prosecutors said Gargano directed two clients to a bulk mail processing company owned by Arvind Lakkamsani, 57, of Northbrook, and Yogesh Patel, 58, of Orlando, Florida, who were supposed to create and process mailings for two energy companies. The energy companies paid millions of dollars to the trio to cover the cost of mailing the more than 80 million pieces of mail, but instead prosecutors said the three split and pocketed the money.

Authorities said the three men forged a mail clerk's signature on verification forms and used an official USPS date stamp to make it appear that the clerk had “authenticated the postage,” according to court records. Additionally, investigators said Patel and Lakkamsani illegally obtained a key to a postal service mail unit located inside their company's facility and used the date stamp without approval or knowledge.

Each man faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.