Three More Couriers Charged in St. Louis Gold-Bar Case That Prosecutors Tie to an $8 Million Scam on Seniors

Published Nov. 10, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

The calls warn that your bank accounts have been compromised. The fix, the callers say, is to turn your savings into gold and hand it to a "government" courier for safekeeping. Federal prosecutors in St. Louis say a call center outside the United States ran that script on elderly people across the country, and that U.S.-based couriers collected the gold. Three people were charged in that case in February [1]. St. Louis Magazine and NewsNation, citing an indictment, report that three more alleged couriers, Elie Longueli, D'Mauriea Rogers and Ayeshbhai Khaterwala, have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud [2][3]. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri's daily docket for Nov. 9, 2026, listed 11 a.m. arraignments for Longueli and Rogers in case 4:26-cr-00478-MAL-SPM, Courtroom 13S in St. Louis [4]. We have not found a new U.S. Attorney's Office release on these charges. Khaterwala does not appear on that docket listing.

Important: Everyone named here is charged, not convicted, except where a guilty plea is noted, and those pleas are reported but not yet confirmed in an official release. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri says "charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty" [1].

How the scheme works, according to the charges

The U.S. Attorney's Office described the indictment in the first case in March 2026 [1]:

1. The scare. Co-conspirators outside the U.S. contacted elderly victims by phone and electronic message and claimed their financial accounts had been compromised.
2. The "solution." Victims were told to liquidate savings and retirement funds, buy gold bars and gold coins, and hand the gold to "government" couriers.
3. The pickup. Couriers collected the gold. One example in the indictment: a woman in Cedar Hill, Missouri, was told she had erroneously been sent money via PayPal and would owe income taxes unless she bought $200,000 in gold.
4. The origin. A detention motion says the call center was in India [1].

The new indictment, as quoted by NewsNation, says conspirators "operating from a call center outside the United States contacted elderly victims through telephone calls and electronic messages and made false representations in order to induce victims to liquidate their savings and retirements funds to purchase gold bars and gold coins, which the victims then gave to couriers working on behalf of the conspiracy." NewsNation reports the alleged scheme ran from about March 2025 to December 2025.

The people charged and their status

From the February 2026 indictment (announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office on March 27, 2026) [1]:

• Monarch Sachdev, 28. Indicted Feb. 4, 2026, on one count of wire fraud; arrested in Texas; pleaded not guilty in March. Prosecutors say he was a courier and managed pickups by other couriers in Houston; Canon City, Colo.; Quincy, Ill.; and St. Louis. A detention motion says he personally retrieved proceeds on at least 65 occasions (losses of at least $5.4 million) and helped others pick up at least $4.2 million. No plea change has been reported. Presumed innocent.
• Elon Harper, 27. Indicted Feb. 4, 2026; arrested in Maine; pleaded not guilty in March. Prosecutors say he was a courier in places including Dallas and Lindale, Texas; Orrick, Mo.; Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Bonita Springs, Fla.; and Norman, Okla., with at least 20 pickups. St. Louis Magazine reports he pleaded guilty in October and has not been sentenced [2]. Unconfirmed: we have not found an official release or docket entry for this plea.
• Raj Chauhan, 33. Indicted Feb. 4, 2026; arrested in northern Illinois; pleaded not guilty March 27, 2026. Prosecutors say he was a courier in St. Louis and elsewhere. St. Louis Magazine reports he pleaded guilty in October and has not been sentenced [2]. Unconfirmed by an official release.

Newly charged (according to St. Louis Magazine and NewsNation, which cite an indictment; no new U.S. Attorney's Office release found) [2][3]:

• Elie Longueli. According to those reports, he is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is accused of picking up more than $1.3 million in gold from victims in Iowa and Illinois; St. Louis Magazine says he was taken into custody in Illinois on Oct. 29, 2026. The court's Nov. 9 daily docket listed an 11 a.m. arraignment for him in 4:26-cr-00478-MAL-SPM; the outcome of that hearing is not independently reported [4]. Presumed innocent.
• D'Mauriea Rogers. According to those reports, he is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is accused of collecting about $900,000 in gold and cash from victims in Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Minnesota and Oklahoma. The court's Nov. 9 daily docket listed an 11 a.m. arraignment for him in the same case; the outcome is not independently reported [4]. Presumed innocent.
• Ayeshbhai Khaterwala. St. Louis Magazine and NewsNation report that he is charged in the same case and is accused of making seven runs to Texas and Louisiana and bringing back about $900,000 in cash, gold and silver; St. Louis Magazine says he was told to give victims the name "David Miller." He did not appear on the Nov. 9 docket listing we reviewed. Court status pending / not independently confirmed. Presumed innocent.

St. Louis Magazine reports that Harper allegedly recruited Rogers and Longueli [2]. The FBI investigated the original case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting it [1]. Ages for the three newly charged defendants were not reported.

We do not name any victim.

Red flags

General warning signs, not claims about any person beyond what the charging documents allege:

• A call, text or pop-up saying your bank account or identity has been compromised.
• Someone claiming to be from a federal agency (or Apple, Microsoft, or your bank) telling you to move your money to keep it safe.
• Being told to buy gold, silver or cash and hand it to a courier, or to keep it secret from family and the bank.
• A "password" or code word for the person who comes to the door (St. Louis Magazine reports the call center used passwords) [2].

No real government agency, bank or tech company will ever send someone to pick up your gold or cash.

What to do if you're targeted

• Hang up and call back using a number from your bank card or an official website, and talk to a family member before moving any money.
• Never hand cash, gold or valuables to a courier, no matter what credentials or passwords they offer.
• If you've already handed over money or gold, call local police right away (a pickup may be planned again) and report to the FBI at ic3.gov.
• Older adults and families can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311) [1].

Case status (as of Nov. 10, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status	Source
Monarch Sachdev, 28	U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri	Indicted Feb. 4, 2026 (wire fraud); pleaded not guilty March 2026; no plea change reported; presumed innocent	[1]
Elon Harper, 27	U.S. District Court, E.D. Mo.	Indicted Feb. 4, 2026; pleaded not guilty March 2026; reported guilty plea October 2026 (unconfirmed); not sentenced	[1], [2]
Raj Chauhan, 33	U.S. District Court, E.D. Mo.	Indicted Feb. 4, 2026; pleaded not guilty March 27, 2026; reported guilty plea October 2026 (unconfirmed); not sentenced	[1], [2]
Elie Longueli	U.S. District Court, E.D. Mo. (4:26-cr-00478-MAL-SPM, per court docket)	Charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to news reports citing an indictment; in custody since Oct. 29, 2026 (per St. Louis Magazine); arraignment listed on the court's Nov. 9 docket, outcome not independently reported; presumed innocent	[2], [3], [4]
D'Mauriea Rogers	U.S. District Court, E.D. Mo. (4:26-cr-00478-MAL-SPM, per court docket)	Charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to news reports citing an indictment; arraignment listed on the court's Nov. 9 docket, outcome not independently reported; presumed innocent	[2], [3], [4]
Ayeshbhai Khaterwala	U.S. District Court, E.D. Mo.	Charged, according to news reports citing an indictment; not listed on the Nov. 9 docket entry we reviewed; status pending; presumed innocent	[2], [3]

Statuses can change. Harper's and Chauhan's reported October guilty pleas remain unconfirmed by an official release or docket entry and are not stated as fact.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri, "Three Accused of Defrauding the Elderly via Gold Bar Scam," March 27, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/three-accused-defrauding-elderly-gold-bar-scam
2. Ryan Krull, "Gold couriers who helped swindle the elderly will be in court in St. Louis today," St. Louis Magazine, Nov. 9, 2026. https://www.stlmag.com/news/gold-couriers-swindle-elderly-scam/
3. NewsNation, "Couriers face charges after elderly gold fraud scheme," Nov. 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/couriers-court-alleged-elderly-gold-fraud/
4. U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Daily Docket for Nov. 9, 2026: 11:00 a.m. arraignments in 4:26-cr-00478-MAL-SPM, USA v Elie Longueli and USA v Dmauriea Rogers, Courtroom 13S, St. Louis. The live calendar later rolled forward; the official docket URL is https://www.moed.uscourts.gov/docket.

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