Coppell man sentenced to over 11 years in prison for scheme to receive millions in PPP loans

A Coppell man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in prison for his scheme to obtain nearly $25 million in forgivable loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas announced.

The PPP, managed by the Small Business Administration, was created to help keep struggling small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Money received through the program’s forgivable loans must be put toward payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent and utilities.

From April to August 2020, Dinesh Sah applied to eight lenders for 15 different loans to be put toward his purported businesses, court records show. In all, he applied for $24.8 million in loans and received over $17 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

To secure the loans, Sah, 55, provided payroll information, tax statements and bank statements that were all fake, prosecutors said.

Sah used the loan proceeds to buy multiple homes in Texas and to pay off mortgages of other homes in California, prosecutors said. He also bought a fleet of luxury cars, including a Bentley convertible, a Corvette Stingray and a Porsche Macan, prosecutors said.

He also sent millions of dollars to different bank accounts using international money transfers, the attorney’s office said.

Sah was arrested in September and in March pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering, according to court records.

In addition to his 135-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer ordered Sah to pay nearly $17.3 million in restitution, prosecutors said. He also agreed to forfeit multiple properties, including eight homes, six cars and more than $9 million, prosecutors said.

“Even as COVID-19 devastated companies around the nation, Mr. Sah sapped millions of dollars from the relief fund that could have helped them. He exploited the pandemic for personal gain, and we are proud to hold him accountable,” Prerak Shah, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said in a prepared statement.

Sah’s lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment.