HOUSTON (Covering Katy News) - Six men scammed more than $20 million of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds from the Small Business Administration (SBA), and now they are headed to prison. The program provided forgivable loans guaranteed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Hamza Abbas, 31, Ammas Uddin, 31, and Arham Uddin, 27, all of Richmond, were sentenced to 44, 18, and 18 months in prison, respectively, while Syed Ali, 55, of Sugar Land, received a 24-month term.
Muhammad Anis, 55, and Jesus Acosta Perez, 33, of Houston, were sentenced to 21 months and 12 months, respectively.
All six had previously pleaded guilty and must also pay varying amounts in restitution.
In January, three other individuals who also previously pleaded guilty were sentenced for their roles in the loan fraud scheme. Raheel Malik, 43, of Sugar Land, and Nishant Patel, 41, of Houston, received sentences of 18 and 24 months, while Harjeet Sing, 50, of Katy, will serve five years of probation.
In October 2023, seven others were sentenced for their roles in the loan fraud conspiracy, including the ringleader, Amir Aqeel, 54, of Houston, who received a 15-year sentence.
According to court documents, the men conspired to fraudulently obtain PPP loans by supplying information about their businesses to be used to submit false and fraudulent PPP loan applications. Specifically, the PPP loan applications falsified the numbers of employees and the average monthly payroll expenses of the applicant businesses. The loan applications included fraudulent bank records and fake federal tax forms.
Prosecutors say Abbas also recruited others into the conspiracy and created fraudulent bank records to support the loan applications in exchange for kickbacks.
They laundered fraudulent proceeds by writing checks from companies that received PPP loans to fake employees.
Anyone with information about fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
CARES act fraud is widespread. More than 200 defendants have been prosecuted in more than 130 criminal cases. Law enforcement has seized over $78 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds and numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with the money; for more information, visit here.