Chicago Travel Agent Rashid Minhas Got 9½ Years for Selling Hajj Packages Without Visas and Voiding Airline Tickets

Case from 2014–2017 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: Dec. 18, 2014; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Rashid Minhas, a Chicago travel agent, was arrested on Dec. 18, 2014, on a federal charge that he sold Hajj pilgrimage packages that falsely included the Saudi visas required to make the trip, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced [1]. At the time, he was already under indictment in a separate fraud case involving his earlier agency.

Outcome: Minhas pleaded guilty in the Hajj case in 2015 and was found guilty of seven counts in the earlier airline-ticket case. In November 2015, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced him to 9½ years (114 months) in prison for both frauds, which cost victims more than $1.3 million, the Chicago Sun-Times reported [2]. The Seventh Circuit affirmed on March 10, 2017 [3].

How the schemes worked

Light Star Hajj (2014). According to the complaint affidavit and the appeals court [1] [3]:

1. Packages without visas: From March to November 2014, Minhas sold packages for the 2014 Hajj that he said included Saudi entry visas. Light Star was not authorized by Saudi Arabia to get them.
2. The money: He took in about $525,000 from at least 50 customers. Agents found about $745,000 in spending unrelated to Hajj travel, including $159,000 in checks to cash and $339,000 sent to individuals in Pakistan.
3. The excuse: In September 2014, Minhas emailed customers falsely saying their visas had been denied. "If Allah doesn't want to invite you, than [sic] no one can take you to Mecca/Medina," he wrote, according to the Sun-Times. The judge called the email a cruel "coup de grace" [2].

City Travel & Tours (2008-2009). Minhas took cash or check payments for airline reservations, printed paper tickets and itineraries, then canceled the reservations before the airlines were paid. Many customers learned their tickets were void only at the airport. About 372 customers lost money, the Seventh Circuit said. He ran the Hajj scheme while on pretrial release in this case.

The person sentenced

Rashid Minhas, 42 at arrest, Chicago — operator of Light Star Hajj Group and, earlier, City Travel & Tours.

• Case 13 CR 919 (City Travel): found guilty after a bench trial of seven counts of wire and mail fraud.
• Case 14 CR 731 (Light Star Hajj): pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in June 2015, according to the Sun-Times.
• Sentence (Nov. 19, 2015): partially concurrent terms totaling 114 months [2] [3].
• Appeal: affirmed March 10, 2017 (Nos. 15-3761 and 15-3763).

Red flags

• A Hajj or Umrah agency that isn't on Saudi Arabia's list of authorized operators.
• Visa "delays" right before departure, or a sudden claim that visas were denied.
• Paper tickets sold for cash below market price; check the booking with the airline.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Use authorized Hajj operators and confirm visas through official Saudi channels before departure.
2. Pay by credit card, which gives you chargeback rights; cash and checks don't.
3. Confirm any airline booking directly with the airline using the confirmation code.
4. Report travel fraud to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Rashid Minhas, Chicago	N.D. Ill. (Judge Feinerman), 13 CR 919 and 14 CR 731; 7th Cir.	Found guilty (City Travel) and pleaded guilty (Light Star Hajj); sentenced Nov. 2015 to 114 months total; affirmed March 10, 2017	[1], [2], [3]

The sentence was imposed in 2015; we have not found a source on Minhas's current custody status.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Chicago Travel Agent Arrested On Federal Fraud Charge For Allegedly Swindling Muslim Pilgrims Of Hajj Travel Packages," Dec. 18, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-travel-agent-arrested-federal-fraud-charge-allegedly-swindling-muslim-pilgrims
2. Jon Seidel, "Travel agent scammed people trying to get to Mecca, gets 9 1/2 years," Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 19, 2015. https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2015/11/19/18559230/travel-agent-scammed-people-trying-to-get-to-mecca-gets-9-1-2-years
3. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, United States v. Minhas, Nos. 15-3761 & 15-3763, March 10, 2017. https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Path=Y2017%2FD03-10%2FC%3A15-3761%3AJ%3AWood%3Aaut%3AT%3AfnOp%3AN%3A1926612%3AS%3A0&Submit=Display

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