Collin County Wedding Planner Sentenced for COVID Relief Fraud

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Texas, Sept. 16, 2021

SHERMAN, Texas – A Murphy man has been sentenced to federal prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $3.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Nicholas Ganjei, Acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Texas and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division today.

Fahad Shah, 45, pleaded guilty on May 19, 2021, to wire fraud and was sentenced to 31 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III.

“Stealing limited COVID relief funds is the very definition of stealing from the less fortunate,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.  “Every dollar that was stolen and extravagantly spent in this case was one less dollar that went to a struggling business scrambling to meet its payroll obligations to employees. The Department of Justice and its partners will do everything in their power to investigate and prosecute those that would deign to steal these limited funds and stall national recovery efforts.”

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