Six sentenced for roles in $20M COVID-19 relief fraud ring

HOUSTON - Six Houston-area men have been sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that the Small Business Administration (SBA) 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, Sugar Land, received a 24-month-term. Two others - Muhammad Anis, 55, and Jesus Acosta Perez, 33, both of Houston, were sentenced to respective terms of 21 months and 12 months and a day. All six had previously pleaded guilty and must also pay varying amounts in restitution.

According to court documents, the men conspired together and with others to fraudulently obtain PPP loans by, among other means, 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 in support of the PPP loan applications.

Abbas also recruited others into the conspiracy and created fraudulent bank records that were used in support of the loan applications in exchange for kickbacks.

They laundered a portion of the fraudulent proceeds by writing checks from companies that received PPP loans to fake employees. These fake paychecks were cashed at certain cash checking businesses, including one another co-conspirator owned.

In January, three other individuals who also previously pleaded guilty were sentenced for their roles in the loan fraud scheme. Raheel Malik, 43, Sugar Land, and Nishant Patel, 41, Houston, received respective sentences of 18 and 24 months, while Harjeet Sing, 50, Katy, must 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, 55, Houston, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

SBA - Office of Inspector General (OIG), Federal Housing Finance Agency – OIG (Central Region), Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – OIG (Dallas Region) and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (Gulf States Field Division) conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodolfo Ramirez and Kristine Rollinson are prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorneys Kate McCarthy, Louis Manzo, Spencer Ryan, Della Sentilles and Randall Warden of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted 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.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s prosecution of fraud schemes that exploit the PPP. Since the inception of the CARES Act, the Fraud Section has prosecuted over 200 defendants in more than 130 criminal cases and has seized over $78 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds. More information can be found here.