Two Indian Americans Plead Guilty to Role in Multimillion-Dollar COVID-19 Relief Fraud Conspiracy

Two Indian American men are among five from Texas who have pleaded guilty to their participation in a scheme to fraudulently obtain and launder millions of dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, the Department of Justice announced last week. The men —  Nishant Patel, 41, and Harjeet Singh, 49, committed the fraud, along with Muhammad Anis, 55 of Houston, and Arham Uddin, 27, and Ammas Uddin, 30 — both of Richmond. The DOJ said the men “engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the SBA and certain SBA-approved PPP lenders by submitting false and fraudulent PPP loan applications.”

They also assisted in laundering the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funds by supplying co-conspirators with blank, endorsed checks, which were made payable to people posing as employees of the companies that received the loan, but who were in fact not employees. These fake paychecks were then cashed at check-cashing stores that other members of the conspiracy controlled. Patel got “a false and fraudulent PPP loan for approximately $474,993, while Singh’s check was for approximately $937,379,” the DOJ said. 

The five men have each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 4, 2024, and each faces a total maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

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In addition to these five defendants, Abdul Fatani, 57, of Richmond, was convicted for his involvement in the scheme, and 15 other individuals have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the loan fraud scheme.