Connecting over 25-30 millions NRIs worldwide
Most trusted Name in the NRI media
NRI PEOPLE- OUR NETWORK
 

 

NRI Shashank Rai Engineer from Texas, Charged with fraudulently seeking over $10 million from COVID-relief fund

$10 million Fraud to PPP-COVID-19 by NRI

New York, May 15, 2020
NRIpress.club

NRI Shashank Rai Engineer from Texas, Charged with fraudulently seeking over $10 million from COVID-relief fund
Under COVID-Relief Fund Program called Paycheque Protection Program (PPP), Shashank Rai Engineer of Beaumont, Texas, applied for a $10 million loan from a bank. He claimed to have 250 employees with a monthly payroll of $4 million when there were no records of paying workers.

In the second application, Rai allegedly sought approximately $3 million in PPP loan proceeds by fraudulently claiming to have 250 employees with an average monthly payroll of approximately $1.2 million.

Prosecutors accused Rai of seeking some $13 million from the PPP by filing two claims for relief with two different banks.
Shashank Rai has been charged by prosecutors with making fraudulent applications for over $10 million loans under the US COVID-19 relief program.

He is charged by way of a federal criminal complaint with violations of wire fraud, bank fraud, false statements to a financial institution, and false statements to the SBA.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said: “As alleged, Rai fraudulently pursued millions of dollars in loans intended for legitimate small businesses suffering the economic hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to court documents:

        The Texas Workforce Commission provided information to investigators of having no records of employee wages having been paid in 2020 by Rai or his purported business, Rai Family LLC. In addition, the Texas Comptroller’s Office of Public Accounts reported to investigators that Rai Family LLC reported no revenues for the fourth quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020.

•        Materials recovered from the trash outside of Rai’s residence included handwritten notes that appear to reflect an investment strategy for the $3 million, which is the amount of money that Rai allegedly sought from the second lender.

While the government is trying to help out small businesses:

But Scammers are out there trying to help themselves. To support small and community banks, the Federal Home Loan Banks can accept Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans as collateral when making loans to their members.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to protecting small business owners, and the American public, from those who seek to do financial harm

SBA OIG and its law enforcement partners will aggressively investigate fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program