Officials arraign man for $20 million scam

Written by Matt Spillane

Tuesday, 06 December 2011 16:54

More than a year after he was arrested, a Chappaqua resident was arraigned in Westchester County Court on Tuesday, Dec. 6 for allegedly scamming a Katonah resident out of more than $20 million.

Vickram Bedi, a 37-year-old resident of Chappaqua, was charged with one count of first-degree grand larceny, a class B felony, for defrauding Katonah resident Roger Davidson over a six-year period, according to the Westchester District Attorney’s office.

Mr. Bedi was arrested in November 2010 along with his employee, Helga Invarsdottir, who pled guilty in December 2010 to one count of first-degree grand larceny and one count of second-degree grand larceny, both felonies. The two employees of Datalink Computer Products, Inc. in Mount Kisco allegedly used false pretenses to steal millions of dollars from Mr. Davidson. Mr. Davidson is a pianist and composer and the great-grandson and great grand-nephew of the two brothers who founded multi-national company Schlumberger Ltd.

In August 2004, Mr. Davidson went to Datalink Computer Products to have his computer repaired after it developed a virus, and Mr. Bedi and Ms. Invarsdottir then allegedly began an elaborate scheme to scam Mr. Davidson.

Mr. Bedi and Ms. Invarsdottir allegedly fabricated “various security threats and scenarios using non-existent foreign nationals and false affiliations with government intelligence agencies to further the security schemes,” according to the district attorney’s office. “They also instilled the fear of bodily harm to the victim, his family and the destruction of the victim’s life’s work: computers containing various musical compositions.”

The two conspirators allegedly convinced Mr. Davidson that his family was specifically targeted by Polish priests affiliated with the Catholic organization Opus Dei, and they persuaded him to pay them for computer data retrieval and security, as well as physical protection, according to the district attorney’s office.

Authorities became involved in July 2010, when Harrison police were contacted about a civil matter related to the investigation.

Mr. Bedi’s next court date is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 20. He faces a maximum of eight and one-third to 25 years in state prison. Ms. Invarsdottir’s sentencing is still pending.