Dallas County Man Indicted for Misusing COVID-19 Relief Funds

When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the U.S., many businesses in Texas were shut down and forced to fend for themselves. In an effort to help small businesses stay afloat during the shutdowns, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ( CARES) Act, but some decided to take advantage of the COVID-19 crisis.

According to a report from The Dallas Morning News, a man from Coppell, located just northwest of Dallas, is accused by the U.S. government of falsifying documents in order to apply for millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief aide.

When applying for the Paycheck Projection Program, a part of the CARES Act designed to issue forgivable loans to small businesses in the U.S., 55-year-old Dinesh Sah claimed to own over 15 different companies, with a number of employees on the payroll. But that wasn’t exactly true.

Federal investigators and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas allege that Sah applied for more than $24.8 million dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, and received about $17.3 million of the requested amount. Many of the companies Sah claimed to own were formed after the CARES Act was passed, and many had no employees at all.

Court documents show that Sah and his wife spent millions of dollars on luxury cars and multiple homes in Dallas County. Sah was finally arrested by federal agents on September 16th, 2020, charged, and now indicted for three counts of wire fraud, three counts of bank fraud, and one count of money laundering.

Only about $6.5 million dollars were recovered of the $17.3 million Sah received. However, all of the luxury items Sah and his wife purchased have been confiscated.