Fraud charges filed against Sekhon

Yuba City doctor and recent congressional candidate Arjinderpal (A.J.) Sekhon and his wife, dentist Daljit Sekhon, were indicted Thursday on charges of bankruptcy fraud, according to U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott.

The Sekhons allegedly defrauded creditors by declaring bankruptcy after transferring $1.5 million of jointly-owned property to Daljit Sekhon alone.

The indictment follows a May raid on the Sekhons' Gray Avenue offices by the FBI.

The Sekhons were not immediately available for comment. They were not at their offices Thursday, according to an employee who answered the phone.

The property was transferred within hours after a Sutter County jury awarded Mr. Sekhon's former employee, Shobhana Sharma, $483,000 in a sexual harassment lawsuit in 1998, said Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Robert Tice-Raskin.

"Immediately before that trial, and again within hours of the adverse verdict, (the Sekhons) transferred ownership of certain real properties they owned, including an apple orchard valued at $1.2 million, as well as all of Daljit Sekhon's future dentistry earnings, to Daljit Sekhon as her separate property," Tice-Raskin said.

In 2002, an arbitrator reduced Sharma's award from $483,000 to $175,000. Within days, the Sekhons transferred ownership of other property to Daljit Sekhon alone, according to the indictment.

Arjinderpal Sekhon filed for bankruptcy in 2003, claiming assets of $26,185 and liabilities of $1,093,700.

Sekhon "falsely claimed that he had no real property assets and also claimed that he had not transferred any real property assets within a year of the bankruptcy proceedings," Tice-Raskin said.

Sekhon is charged with three counts of bankruptcy fraud on creditors, two counts of fraudulent concealment of property and two counts of making false statements.

Daljit Sekhon is facing three counts of defrauding creditors, one count of fraudulent transfer of property and one count of making a false statement.

The maximum penalty for each count is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

After the FBI visited his office in May, Sekhon, in an e-mail to the Redding Record-Searchlight, said the raid was part of an election smear campaign.

A few weeks after, he narrowly lost the Democratic primary election in the 2nd Congressional District to Jeff Morris.

Sekhon won the primary in 2006, but was defeated by incumbent Rep. Wally Herger, 64.2 percent to 32.5 percent. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 2004.

In the 2002 race for Yuba City City Council, Sekhon finished last in a six-candidate field.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com