SAN JOSE — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Northern), published as received.

SAN JOSE – Dr. Raghava Reddy Ghosala pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Ghosala, 65, of North Wales, Pennsylvania, was charged by information on May 5, 2026.  Under the plea agreement, Ghosala pleaded guilty to all counts.  In pleading guilty, Ghosala admitted he was the President of the non-profit organization North American Telugu Association, Inc. (also known as NATA) from 2019 through 2022.  During this period, and under Ghosala’s leadership, NATA defrauded multiple employers’ corporate matching programs by causing employees to request and secure millions of dollars’ worth of corporate matching payments for purported charitable contributions which did not qualify for matching payments, usually because the contributions were refunded to the employees by NATA, often via cash or payments to intermediaries (rather than to employees directly).  Ghosala also admitted he worked with others to falsify NATA’s tax returns for 2019 through 2021 by fraudulently reclassifying expenditures which were actually used to reimburse donors as legitimate expenses.  Ghosala then authorized the filing of those tax returns despite the fact that he knew they were false.

Another defendant, Venkateswara Kalluri, was charged in connection with this scheme in case No. 5:25-cr-00066-EJD.  Kalluri pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States on June 23, 2025.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) San Francisco Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge David Lowe, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Scott Schelbe made the announcement.

Ghosala’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 22, 2027, at 1:30 PM before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila.  Ghosala faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison as to the wire fraud conspiracy count, and 5 years in prison as to the conspiracy to defraud the United States count.  Any sentence will be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael G. Pitman is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Sahib Kaur.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by IRS-CI, and the FBI.