diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index f19069006c..621ef08e4e 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -2373,8 +2373,13 @@ async def chat_completion(
             llm_router is not None and data["model"] in llm_router.deployment_names
         ):  # model in router deployments, calling a specific deployment on the router
             response = await llm_router.acompletion(**data, specific_deployment=True)
-        else:  # router is not set
+        elif user_model is not None:  # `litellm --model <your-model-name>`
             response = await litellm.acompletion(**data)
+        else:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail={"error": "Invalid model name passed in"},
+            )
 
         # Post Call Processing
         data["litellm_status"] = "success"  # used for alerting
@@ -2435,7 +2440,12 @@ async def chat_completion(
             traceback.print_exc()
 
         if isinstance(e, HTTPException):
-            raise e
+            raise ProxyException(
+                message=getattr(e, "detail", str(e)),
+                type=getattr(e, "type", "None"),
+                param=getattr(e, "param", "None"),
+                code=getattr(e, "status_code", status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST),
+            )
         else:
             error_traceback = traceback.format_exc()
             error_msg = f"{str(e)}\n\n{error_traceback}"
@@ -2585,8 +2595,13 @@ async def embeddings(
             llm_router is not None and data["model"] in llm_router.deployment_names
         ):  # model in router deployments, calling a specific deployment on the router
             response = await llm_router.aembedding(**data, specific_deployment=True)
-        else:
+        elif user_model is not None:  # `litellm --model <your-model-name>`
             response = await litellm.aembedding(**data)
+        else:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail={"error": "Invalid model name passed in"},
+            )
 
         ### ALERTING ###
         data["litellm_status"] = "success"  # used for alerting
@@ -2604,7 +2619,12 @@ async def embeddings(
         )
         traceback.print_exc()
         if isinstance(e, HTTPException):
-            raise e
+            raise ProxyException(
+                message=getattr(e, "message", str(e)),
+                type=getattr(e, "type", "None"),
+                param=getattr(e, "param", "None"),
+                code=getattr(e, "status_code", status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST),
+            )
         else:
             error_traceback = traceback.format_exc()
             error_msg = f"{str(e)}\n\n{error_traceback}"
@@ -2720,8 +2740,13 @@ async def image_generation(
             response = await llm_router.aimage_generation(
                 **data
             )  # ensure this goes the llm_router, router will do the correct alias mapping
-        else:
+        elif user_model is not None:  # `litellm --model <your-model-name>`
             response = await litellm.aimage_generation(**data)
+        else:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail={"error": "Invalid model name passed in"},
+            )
 
         ### ALERTING ###
         data["litellm_status"] = "success"  # used for alerting
@@ -2739,7 +2764,12 @@ async def image_generation(
         )
         traceback.print_exc()
         if isinstance(e, HTTPException):
-            raise e
+            raise ProxyException(
+                message=getattr(e, "message", str(e)),
+                type=getattr(e, "type", "None"),
+                param=getattr(e, "param", "None"),
+                code=getattr(e, "status_code", status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST),
+            )
         else:
             error_traceback = traceback.format_exc()
             error_msg = f"{str(e)}\n\n{error_traceback}"
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
index cab26f319e..a2c7952586 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ def test_exception_openai_bad_model(client):
             response=response
         )
         print("Type of exception=", type(openai_exception))
-        assert isinstance(openai_exception, openai.NotFoundError)
+        assert isinstance(openai_exception, openai.BadRequestError)
 
     except Exception as e:
         pytest.fail(f"LiteLLM Proxy test failed. Exception {str(e)}")
@@ -160,7 +160,6 @@ def test_chat_completion_exception_any_model(client):
         response = client.post("/chat/completions", json=test_data)
 
         json_response = response.json()
-        print("keys in json response", json_response.keys())
         assert json_response.keys() == {"error"}
 
         # make an openai client to call _make_status_error_from_response