DALLAS — A man from North Texas has been charged in an indictment filed Thursday for his alleged participation in a scheme to file fraudulent loan applications, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dinesh Sah, 55, of Coppell, Texas, allegedly sought around $24.8 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Sah was charged with three counts of wire fraud, three counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering in an indictment filed in the Northern District of Texas.
The indictment alleges that Sah submitted 15 fraudulent applications, filed under the names of various businesses that he owned or controlled, to eight different SBA-approved lenders seeking approximately $24.8 million in PPP loans.
In his applications, Sah claimed these businesses had numerous employees and hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll expenses when no business had employees or paid wages consistent with the amounts claimed in the PPP applications, the indictment says.
The indictment also alleges that Sah submitted fraudulent documentation in support of his applications, including falsified federal tax filings and forged bank statements for the businesses.
Sah ultimately received approximately $17.3 million in PPP loan funds and used this mainly for personal expenses, such as spending them on multiple homes, luxury cars and sending millions of dollars in international transfers, the department's indictment says.
To date, the government has seized more than $6.5 million in fraudulent proceeds that Sah obtained.
This case was investigated by agents from the U.S. Treasury, IRS and Inspector General.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
