Dinesh Sah, a 55-year-old businessman from Coppell, Texas, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in a $24 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme.
Sah pleaded guilty to wire-fraud and money-laundering offenses on March 24, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer, who also ordered him to pay $17,284,649.79 in restitution.
According to court documents, Sah submitted 15 fraudulent applications to eight different lenders seeking approximately $24.8 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. He claimed that the businesses had numerous employees and hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll expenses, when in fact no business had employees or paid wages consistent with the amounts claimed in the PPP applications.
Sah further submitted fraudulent documentation in support of his applications, including fabricated federal tax filings and bank statements for the purported businesses, and falsely listed other persons as the authorized representatives of certain of these businesses without the authority to use their identifying information on the applications.
“Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program to help struggling businesses stay afloat, not to fund faux entrepreneurs’ luxury lifestyles,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. “Even as COVID-19 devastated companies around the nation, Mr. Sah sapped millions of dollars from the relief fund that could have helped them. He exploited the pandemic for personal gain, and we are proud to hold him accountable.”
Sah received over $17 million in PPP loan funds and diverted the proceeds for his personal benefit, using them to purchase multiple homes in Texas, pay off the mortgages on other homes in California, and buy a fleet of luxury cars, including a Bentley convertible, Corvette Stingray, and Porsche Macan. He also sent millions of dollars in PPP proceeds in international money transfers.
The case was investigated by the Dallas Field Offices of the FDIC-OIG, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and was prosecuted by Assistant Deputy Chief Anna G. Kaminska of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Section Chief Katherine Miller of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erica Hilliard and Dimitri Rocha handled the asset-forfeiture component of the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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