TEXAS, USA — A Texas man is facing 31 months in prison. He claimed he owned a wedding planning business with 100 employees, but used the money given to him by the government on two Teslas, a Mercedes and his home mortgage, a press release from The United States Department of Justice says.
The release says 45-year-old Fahad Shah pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He reportedly sought approximately $3.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds by claiming that his family’s business, WBF Weddings by Farah Inc. employed more than 100 people and paid millions of dollars in compensation to those employees. Shah is from Murphy, Texas.
"In actuality, WBF had no employees aside from Shah and his wife. Based on Shah’s false representations and forged documents, an SBA-approved lender provided over $1.5 million in PPP loan funds to Shah. Shah then used the funds for personal gain contrary to program’s terms, paying off his home mortgage and purchasing two Teslas and a Mercedes, among other items," the release says.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud hotline at 866-720-5721 or use a NCDF Web Complaint Form here.
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