Brookline woman sentenced to prison for embezzling $2.5 million from Takeda

A Brookline woman was convicted Thursday of participating in a fraud scheme to defraud Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited of at least $2.5 million, officials say.

Between approximately January 2022 and October 2022, Priya Bhambi, 40, of Brookline, Mass., a former employee of the company's technology operations group, allegedly orchestrated a scheme with a co-conspirator to defraud Takeda of millions of dollars in payments for “allegedly” consulting services Submitting false invoices in the name of a sham consulting firm,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Bhambi also committed fraud using another fake consulting firm, resulting in payments from Takeda totaling nearly $300,000 for consulting services that were never provided.

In February 2022, the two allegedly founded Evoluzione Consulting LLC, and Bhambi created a website for Evoluzione with false information, including “fabricated blog posts to make it appear that Evoluzione was a legitimate consulting firm,” authorities said.

Bhambi and the co-conspirator allegedly convinced the pharmaceutical company to sign a master services agreement with Evoluzione and place a purchase order totaling $3.542 million, officials said.

Then, between March and May 2022, they submitted five separate fake invoices with a total value of $460,000 each, the office said. Before Takeda became aware of the plan and fired Bhambi, the company paid all the bills.

In total, Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator defrauded Takeda of $2.3 million in payments, which they used to purchase assets under the court's confiscation order, the statement said.

The court ordered the forfeiture of the same amount, as well as a Mercedes-Benz Model E, over $1 million in fraud proceeds held in bank accounts, a $49,985 wedding venue deposit, a diamond engagement ring and one purchased with fraud proceeds Condominium in Seaport to authorities.

In June 2024, Bhambi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud, the statement said.

Authorities said Bhambi and the alleged co-conspirator, who did not work at Takeda and is scheduled to stand trial beginning Dec. 2, were charged in an indictment filed in March 2023.

The office said Bhambi was sentenced to 46 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,585,480 in restitution.

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Lindsay Shachnow covers general assignment news for Boston.com, covering breaking news, crime and politics across New England.

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